Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Family Group:

Pair: Lieutenant-Colonel the Lord Waleran, French Red Cross, late Devon Rifle Volunteers and Grenadier Guards, Member of Parliament for Tiverton and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; a First Class Cricketer, he was 65 when the Great War started
British War and Victory Medals (Rt. Hon. Lord W. H. Waleran.) nearly extremely fine

Pair: Helena, the Lady Waleran, French Red Cross
British War and Victory Medals (Lady H. M. Waleran.) nearly extremely fine (4) £300-400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to Members of the Nobility and The Royal Household.

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William Hood Walrond, 1st Baron Waleran, was born on 26 February 1849, the eldest son of Sir John Walrond, Bt., and his wife Frances, daughter of the 2nd Baron Bridport. He was educated at Eton and served as a Captain in the Grenadier Guards, before transferring to the Devon Rifle Volunteers, with whom he was advanced honorary Lieutenant-Colonel. He was elected Member of Parliament for East Devonshire in 1880, and for Tiverton in 1885, and held the seat until 1906. Appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury in 1895, he was advanced to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (with a seat in the Cabinet) on 11 August 1902.

Lord Waleran succeeded to the baronetcy upon the death of his father on 23 April 1889, and on 23 December 1905 was raised to the peerage as Baron Waleran. He married Miss Elizabeth Pitman, daughter of James Pitman Esq., on 11 April 1871, with whom he had one son and two daughters. She died on 11 October 1911, and Lord Waleran subsequently married Miss Helena Morrison on 28 October 1913. During the Great War both he and his wife served with the French Red Cross in France. He died on 17 May 1925, and was succeeded to the title by his grandson (his only son, who was elected M.P. for Tiverton upon his father’s elevation to the House of Lords, having been killed in action during the Great War); upon the latter’s death in 1966 both the Barony and Baronetcy became extinct.

Lord Waleran was a keen cricketer, who played in the Eton XI in 1866 and 1867 (losing against Harrow at Lord’s by an innings in 1866, but drawing the fixture the following year), as well as for a number of leading wandering teams in later life. He played one First Class match, for the M.C.C. against Surrey at Lord’s in May 1868, and scored 13 in each innings in a four-wicket victory.

Helena Margaret, Baroness Waleran, married Lord Waleran on 28 October 1913, and served during the Great War alongside her husband in the French Red Cross. She died on 19 February 1956.