Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Family Group:

Seven: Captain T. F. Butler-Kearney, Leinster Regiment, Imperial Light Horse, and Royal Army Service Corps, who subsequently served during the Second World War with the A.R.P. at Biggin Hill
Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Transvaal, Wittebergen (Lieut. T. F. Butlet-Kearney. Leins. Rgt.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps (Lt. T. F. Butler-Kearney. Leins. Rgt.); 1914-15 Star (Pte. F. B. Kearney 5th M.R.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. T. F. Butler-Kearney.); General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Iraq (Lieut. T. F. Butler-Kearney.); Defence Medal, in named card box of issue, addressed to ‘Mr. F. Butler Kearney, 25 Egmont Road, Sutton, Surrey.’, the first six mounted as worn, very fine and better

Pair: Miss Norma Butler-Kearney
Defence and War Medals 1939-45, mounted as worn, in named card box of issue addressed to ‘Miss. N. Butler-Kearney, P.B. 43A, Salisbury, S. Rhodesia’, extremely fine

Defence and War Medals 1939-45, in named card box of issue addressed to ‘Mrs. J. S. Wake, 25, Egmont Rd, Sutton, Surrey.’, with Army Council enclosure, extremely fine (11) £600-800

Trench Frank Butler-Kearney, was born in 1877, the son of Colonel C. J. Butler-Kearney, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Leinster Regiment on 24 May 1899. He served with the Leinsters in South Africa during the Boer War, and was promoted Lieutenant on 19 December 1900. He resigned his commission on 2 March 1904, and attested for the South African Constabulary in London on 7 May of that year, but was discharged on 23 May 1906, on account of refusing to agree to new conditions of service, after 2 years and 52 days’ service. On the outbreak of the Great War he attested for the South African Imperial Light Horse on 3 September 1914, and served with them in German South West Africa from December 1914, before being appointed to a temporary commission, with the rank of Lieutenant, in the Army Service Corps on 16 October 1915, thanks in part to representations made to the Attorney General, Sir Edward Carson, by the Hon. Miss Georgina O’Brien. Promoted Acting Captain on 7 August 1918, he continued to serve with the Royal Army Service Corps in Iraq, as a Local Purchase Officer, 1st Grade, before relinquishing his commission with the rank of Captain on 19 May 1923. During the Second World War he was employed as a stretcher bearer with the A.R.P. at Biggin Hill, and on 23 August 1940 was much in action after the shelter there received a direct hit: ‘taking out wounded and sending them to hospital, then back to shelter to take out the dead and send them to the mortuary- 47 in all, badly knocked about’ (recipient’s diary refers).

Butler-Kearney married Miss Shirley Sequeira in 1920, with whom he had two daughters. He died on 7 February 1956.

Norma Butler-Kearney was born in 1934, the daughter of Captain T. F. Butler-Kearney and his wife Shirley.

Sold together with the recipient’s South African Constabulary Certificate of Discharge; various letters from the War Office, House of Commons, and the Attorney General regarding the recipient obtaining a Commission during the Great War; Commission Document appointing Trench Frank Butler-Kearney a Lieutenant in the Army Service Corps, dated 21 October 1915; recipient’s Record of Service; Great War account book; Photo album with portrait photographs of many of the recipient’s brother officers from the Great War; two Driving Licences; Diary for 1940, with limited entries; two Air Raid Precautions Pay Books; Cigarette case reputed to belong to Bernard ‘Bunny’ Sequeira, a relative of the recipient’s wife, who was killed during the London Blitz; and various riband bars.