Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The superb Omdurman charger’s group of twelve awarded to Major the Hon. Sir Richard Molyneux, K.C.V.O., Royal Horse Guards, attached to the 21st Lancers in the Sudan, who, having been severely wounded and his horse killed, was rescued from certain death by Private Thomas Byrne, whose gallantry was rewarded with the Victoria Cross; while recuperating in Cairo Molyneux received a skin graft from the forearm of Winston Churchill, who perhaps regretted his decision to visit him: ‘While we were talking, the doctor came in to dress his wound. It was a horrible gash, and the doctor was anxious that it should be skinned over as soon as possible. He said something in a low tone to the nurse, who bared her arm. They retired into a corner, where he began to cut a piece of skin off her to transfer to Molyneux’s wound. The poor nurse blanched, and the doctor turned upon me. He was a great raw-boned Irishman. “Oi’ll have to take it off you,” he said. There was no escape, and as I rolled up my sleeve he added genially, “Ye’ve heear of a man being flayed aloive? Well, this is what it feels loike.” He then proceeded to cut a piece of skin and some flesh about the size of a shilling from the inside of my forearm. My sensations as he sawed the razor slowly too and fro fully justified his description of the ordeal. However, I managed to hold out until he had cut a beautiful piece of skin with a thin layer of flesh attached to it. This precious fragment was then grafted on to my friend’s wound. It remains there to this day and did him lasting good in many ways. I for my part keep the scar as a souvenir.’

India General Service 1895-1902, 2 clasps, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Tirah 1897-98 (Lieut. The Honble. R. F. Molyneux Ryl. Horse Gds:); Queen’s Sudan 1896-98 (Lieut. R. F. Molyneux. Rl. Horse Guards) naming officially re-engraved; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (Lieut: Hon: R. F. Molyneux, R.H. Gds:) impressed naming; 1914 Star, with clasp (Capt. R. F. Molyneux. M.V.O. R.H. Gds:); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. Hon. R. F. Molyneux.); Jubilee 1897, silver; Coronation 1902, silver; Coronation 1911; Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937; Coronation 1953; Khedive's Sudan 1896-1908, 1 clasp, Khartoum (Lieut. The Honble. R. F. Molyneux. Ryl. Horse Gds.) mounted court style, light contact marks, otherwise good very fine or better (12) £20000-26000

M.V.O., 4th Class, 6 July 1909: ‘Presentation of Colours at Knowsley.’

C.V.O., 3 June 1925: ‘Groom in Waiting to His Majesty.’

K.C.V.O., 3 June 1935: ‘Groom in Waiting to King George V and Extra Equery to Queen Mary.’

The Honourable Richard Frederick Molyneux was born in London on 24 March 1873, the third son of William, 4th Earl of Sefton. He joined the Third Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers on 3 August 1892, before transferring to the Royal Horse Guards on 11 November 1896, as well as being promoted Lieutenant. In 1897 he saw active service on the Northwest Frontier of India with the Tirah Expeditionary Force, serving as orderly officer to Sir William Lockhart.

In the Sudan, during the Nile campaign of 1898, he was attached to the 21st Lancers and served in “C” squadron in their memorable charge at Omdurman. Molyneux was severely wounded, his horse killed, and he was only saved from certain death by the gallantry of Private Thomas Byrne, who was subsequently awarded the Victoria Cross.

Winston Churchill gives a good account of the episode in The River War:

‘As the charging squadrons of the 21st Lancers closed with the enemy in the action of 2nd of September, Private Byrne was struck by a bullet, which passed through his right arm and inflicted a severe wound. His lance fell from his hand, but he succeeded in drawing his sword. This delayed him, and he was one of the last men to get clear of the stabbing and hacking mass of Dervishes alive. Safety was then in sight. Lieutenant R. F. Molyneux, of the Blues, had however been wounded. Dismounted, disarmed, and streaming with blood, this officer was still endeavouring to make his way through the enemy, and to follow the line of the charge. He was beset on all sides. He perceived Private Byrne, and called on him for help. Whereupon, without a moment’s hesitation, Byrne replied, “All right, sir,” and turning, rode at four Dervishes who were about to kill his officer. His wound, which had partly paralysed his arm, prevented him from grasping his sword, and at the first ineffectual blow it fell from his hand, and he received another wound from a spear in the chest. But his solitary charge had checked the pursuing Dervishes. Lieutenant Molyneux regained his squadron alive, and the trooper, seeing that his object was attained, galloped away, reeling in his saddle. Arrived at his troop, his desperate condition was noticed, and he was told to fall out. But this he refused for some time to do, urging that he was entitled to have “another go at them”. At length he was assisted from the field fainting from loss of blood.’

The Victoria Cross to Private Thomas Byrne, 21st Lancers, was announced in the London Gazette of 15 November 1898:

‘At the battle of Khartoum on the 2nd September, 1898, Private Byrne turned back in the middle of the charge of the 21st Lancers and went to the assistance of Lieutenant The Honourable R. F. Molyneux, Royal Horse Guards, who was wounded, dismounted, disarmed, and being attacked by several Dervishes. Private Byrne, already severely wounded, attacked these Dervishes, received a second severe wound, and, by his gallant conduct, enabled Lieutenant Molyneux to escape.’

Churchill graphically describes his next encounter with Molyneux in My Early Life:

‘The defeat and destruction of the Dervish army was so complete that the frugal Kitchener was able to dispense immediately with the costly services of a British cavalry regiment. Three days after the battle the 21st Lancers started northwards on their march home. I was allowed to float down the Nile in the big sailing-boats which contained the Grenadier Guards. In Cairo I found Dick Molyneux, a subaltern in the Blues, who like myself had been attached to the 21st. He had been seriously wounded by a sword cut above his right wrist. This had severed all the muscles and forced him to drop his revolver. At the same time his horse had been shot at close quarters. Molyneux had been rescued from certain slaughter by the heroism of one of his troopers. He was now proceeding to England in charge of a hospital nurse. I decided to keep him company. While we were talking, the doctor came in to dress his wound. It was a horrible gash, and the doctor was anxious that it should be skinned over as soon as possible. He said something in a low tone to the nurse, who bared her arm. They retired into a corner, where he began to cut a piece of skin off her to transfer to Molyneux’s wound. The poor nurse blanched, and the doctor turned upon me. He was a great raw-boned Irishman. “Oi’ll have to take it off you,” he said. There was no escape, and as I rolled up my sleeve he added genially, “Ye’ve heear of a man being flayed aloive? Well, this is what it feels loike.” He then proceeded to cut a piece of skin and some flesh about the size of a shilling from the inside of my forearm. My sensations as he sawed the razor slowly too and fro fully justified his description of the ordeal. However, I managed to hold out until he had cut a beautiful piece of skin with a thin layer of flesh attached to it. This precious fragment was then grafted on to my friend’s wound. It remains there to this day and did him lasting good in many ways. I for my part keep the scar as a souvenir.’

Molyneux served in South Africa from 1899 during the Second Anglo-Boer War as Aide-de-Camp to Lord Erroll, commander of a brigade of Imperial Yeomanry. In May 1904 he was promoted Captain, but shortly afterwards he resigned his commission and was placed on the reserve list. However in October 1914, after the outbreak of the First World War he departed with his regiment for France and Belgium, where he served from October 1914 to March 1915. He ceased to be employed with the regiment in September 1916 but was appointed as an extra A.D.C. to the Commander-in-Chief Home Forces from September 1916 to May 1918.

After the war he finally retired from the army in 1919 with the rank of Major. In 1919 he was appointed groom in ordinary to King George V. He was groom in waiting to King George from 1933 to 1936 and in 1935 was created K.C.V.O. After the death of the King in 1936 he became, until her death, extra equerry to Queen Mary, whose interests "he shared to the full ... in furniture and pictures and had more than an amateur's knowledge of the subject. Gifted with a high and equal degree of taste and tact he proved an admirable and always helpful adviser to her in her self-imposed task of arranging the many treasures in the royal residences to show them to the best advantage. From time to time such was his taste and skill, he was even able to make small but effective additions to the royal collections ..."

Sir Richard Molyneux was unmarried and lived in London, in Berkeley Square. He died in London on 20 January 1954, at the age of eighty. Reading his obituary, Sir Winston mused to his doctor, Lord Moran: “He will take my skin with him, a kind of advance guard, into the next world.”

The diaries of Sir Richard Molyneux are held at The National Archives, Kew.

See Lot 815 for his miniature dress medals.