Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Family Group:

Pair: Lieutenant-Colonel C. W. Field, Judge Advocate General’s Department, late 26th Bengal Infantry
India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Burma 1885-7 (Lieut. C. W. Field 26th. Bl. Infy.); 1914 Star (Lt. Col. C. W. Field, J.A. Genl’s Dept) edge bruise to first, generally very fine, scarce to unit

Three: Lieutenant C. V. G. Field, Canadian Infantry, attached Royal Flying Corps, shot down in action over Ligny, 12 January 1916
1914-15 Star (Lieut: C. V. G. Field. 4/Can: Inf:); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. C. V. Field.); with the recipient’s Canadian Memorial Cross, G.V.R. (Lieut. C. V. G. Field.) extremely fine (6) £700-900

Charles William Field was born in India on 30 January 1863, and was educated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Norfolk Regiment on 25 August 1883, and transferred to the South Wales Borderers with the rank of Lieutenant on 24 October of that year, before joining the Bengal Staff Corps on 27 May 1885. He served with the 26th Bengal Infantry in Burma during the third Anglo-Burmese War, and was promoted Captain on 25 August 1894, and Major on 25 August 1901. He was appointed to the Cantonment Magistrates’ Department, Indian Army, in February 1905, and was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel on 25 August 1909. He served with the Judge Advocate General’s Department during the Great War on the Western Front from 12 October 1914, and was appointed Deputy Judge Advocate General on 18 December 1914. He retired on 28 February 1917.

Charles Valentine Geary Field was born in India on 30 March 1895, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel C. W. Field, and was educated at Fettes College, Edinburgh, and McGill College, Montreal, Canada. He attested for the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force at Montreal on 5 December 1914, and was posted to the 23rd Reserve Battalion, before transferring to the 4th Battalion (Central Ontario Regiment). He went to England in September 1915, and was attached No. 16 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps as an Observer on 16 December 1915, his commanding officer being Hugh Dowding. He was shot down over Ligny, Belgium, on 12 January 1916, and received serious injuries to the head and had several bone fractures. He was taken prisoner of war and conveyed to the German field hospital at Haubourdin, near Lille, but he died before reaching the hospital. He was buried in the Haubourdin Communal Cemetery (German Extension), France; after the end of the Great War his body was exhumed and he was re-buried in Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery, France.

Sold together with photographic images of both recipients; a 4th Canadian Infantry silver badge; and a silver wristwatch, the backplate lightly scratched ‘C. V. G. Field’,