Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Lieutenant-Colonel C. F. H. Beardmore, Army Pay Department, late 1st Royal Tower Hamlets King’s Own Light Infantry Militia, who was Mentioned in Despatches for his services at the action at Essaman during the Ashantee Campaign, and was awarded a Royal Humane Society Medal for saving life at the Okee River, Gold Coast, 9 November 1873

Ashantee 1873-74, 1 clasp, Coomassie (Lt. C. F. H. Beardmore. K.O.L.I.M. 1873.) privately engraved naming; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, unofficial rivets between state and date clasps (Major C. F. H. Beardmore, A.P.D.); Royal Humane Society, small bronze medal (successful) (C. F. H. Beardmore Assist. Commissary 9 Novr. 1874 [sic]) lacking integral bronze riband buckle, light contact marks and edge bruising to first and last, very fine (3) £700-900

Charles Francis Hartshorne Beardmore was born on 27 February 1850 and was commissioned Lieutenant in the 1st Royal Tower Hamlets (King’s Own Light Infantry) Militia on 1 September 1871. He served during the Ashantee campaign as a Sub-Assistant Commissary, where he commanded 60 native labourers who formed the ambulance for the Gold Coast; was present in the action at Essaman, 14 October 1873, and the battle of Amoaful, 31 January 1874; and was Mentioned in Despatches for the former action (London Gazette 18 November 1873). He was awarded his Royal Humane Society Bronze Medal for saving life of a native coolie who was drowning in the Okee River, on the Gold Coast, 9 November 1873 (R.H.S. Case No. 19579).

Promoted Captain on 5 September 1877, Beardmore was commissioned Assistant Paymaster on 28 September of that year, and promoted Paymaster on 1 April 1884. Granted the honorary rank of Major on 1 April 1894, he was advanced to Staff Paymaster on 5 September 1898, and served with the Army Pay Department in South Africa during the Boer War. Promoted Lieutenant-Colonel on 5 September 1903, he retired on 2 October 1907.