Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Lieutenant Bandmaster G. R. Gibb, Natal Mounted Rifles

Natal 1906, 1 clasp, 1906 (Lt. & Bandmaster G. R. Gibb. Natal Mtd Rifles.); Volunteer Force Long Service, V.R.I. (Band Master G. R. Gibb. N.M. Rifles) edge bruising to latter, very fine (2) £300-400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals to Musicians formed by the Late Llewellyn Lord.

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George R. Gibb was born in St. James’s, London, in 1842, and attested for the Grenadier Guards at London on 30 June 1860, having previously served in the Cambridge Militia. He was present in the Grenadier Guards at the landing of Princess Alexandra of Denmark prior to her wedding to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales (later H.M. King Edward VII) at Gravesend, 7 March 1863. Appointed Drummer on 27 December 1864, and promoted Drum Major on 1 July 1868, he transferred to the 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment of Foot as Drum Major on 28 February 1870. He served with the Regiment in China, and in South Africa from 1871, and was discharged in Natal on 30 November 1874. He joined the Durban Mounted Rifles as Band Master in 1885, and in 1888 the Durban Mounted Rifles were absorbed into the Natal Mounted Rifles, with Gibb continuing as Band Master of the newly enlarged Regiment. He served with the Regiment in the Second Boer War at Ladysmith, ‘and was doubtless responsible for the creation and functioning of the Ladysmith Siege Band, the instruments of which were tubs with sheep skins, and tin whistles’ (entitled to Queen’s South Africa Medal with clasp Defence of Ladysmith). Awarded his Volunteer Force Long Service Medal on 13 January 1903, he was commissioned Lieutenant in the Natal Mounted Rifles for Long and Meritorious Service in 1905, and served in the Natal Colonial Forces under Lieutenant-Colonel H. Sparks between 23 February and 1 August 1906 during the Natal Native Rebellion. He retired on 23 February 1910, after a military career spanning over 50 years.

Sold with a photographic image of the recipient.