Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The scarce M.B.E. attributed to the Reverend W. F. McWhan, Presbyterian Minister, Port Stanley, Falkland Islands; late Chaplain to the Falkland Islands Defence Force

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Civil) Member’s 2nd type breast badge, silver, in Royal Mint case of issue, extremely fine £140-180

M.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1948: The Reverend Walter Forrest McWhan, Presbyterian Minister, Port Stanley, Falkland Islands.

Walter Forrest McWhan was born in Glasgow on 29 July 1913, and emigrated to the Falkland Islands in September 1934 as an ‘independent missionary’ after training at the Bible Training Institute in Glasgow. He soon built up a large congregation in the Falkland Islands, and played a leading role in Island life. During the Second World War he was commissioned into the Falkland Islands Defence Force as a non-conformist Chaplain (4th Class) on 5 May 1942 and was attached to the 11th Garrison Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, who were based there from 1942-44; he was also a familiar figure among the Royal Navy ships based at Port Stanley. He was also well known and greatly respected by the leaders and members of a succession of British Expeditions to Antarctica, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society for his contribution to the geography of the South Atlantic. For a number of years he was the editor of The Falkland Islands Weekly News, and in 1952 wrote a book, ‘The Falkland Islands To-Day’ in an effort to attract more visitors to the Islands.

For his services to the Falkland Islands McWhan was created a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1948 New Year’s Honours’ List, and in 1952 was appointed to the Islands’ Legislative Council. He died whilst on leave to Scotland at the Royal Infirmary, Falkirk, on 25 August 1965.

Sold with the Bestowal Document for the M.B.E.; Commission appointing the recipient a Chaplain (4th Class) for duty as Non-Conformist Chaplain to the Falkland Islands Defence Force; Commission appointing the recipient a Member of the Falkland Islands Legislative Council, dated 27 February 1952; a copy of the recipient’s book The Falkland Islands To-Day, published in Stirling in 1952 and containing pictures of the Falklands; booklet for ‘The Tabernacle’, which was his church at Stanley, together with an associated prayer card by him; two photographs of the recipient being presented to H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh at Port Stanley in January 1957, one glazed and framed; and various copied research including a detailed biography.