Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A fine post-War ‘Civil Division’ B.E.M. group of seven awarded to Captain R. M. E. Reeves, Leicestershire Regiment, late Honourable Artillery Company, attached King’s Own Scottish Borderers, who was severely wounded at Gallipoli in 1915: his wartime diaries held by the Imperial War Museum contain much detail regarding his service on the Western Front and in the Dardanelles. He later became County Commandant of the Somerset Special Constabulary

British Empire Medal, (Civil) E.II.R. (Captain Richard Mervyn Edmund Reeves); 1914 Star, with clasp (1129 Pte. R. M. E. Reeves. H.A.C.); British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. R. M. E. Reeves.); Defence Medal (Capt. R. M. E. Reeves. Commt. Somerset Specl. Consty.) contemporarily engraved naming; Coronation 1953 (Capt. R. M. E. Reeves. County Commdt. Somerset Specl. Constbly.) contemporarily engraved naming; Special Constabulary Long Service Medal, G.VI.R., with two Additional Award Bars for ‘Long Service 1945’ and ‘Long Service 1955’ (Area Comdt. Richard M. E. Reeves) very fine or better (7) £500-£700

B.E.M. London Gazette 1 January 1957: Captain Richard Mervyn Edmund Reeves, Commandant, Somerset Special Constabulary. (Bristol.)

Richard Mervyn Edmund Reeves was born in 1886 in Kensington, London and was educated at Bedford School and Lincoln College, Oxford. He attested for 4 years service with the Honourable Artillery Company on 8 October 1914 aged 28 years and 1 month. He served with the 1st Imperial Service Battalion in France from 20 September 1914 to 13 January 1915 before being commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the 10th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment on 5 February 1915. He was attached to the 1st Battalion King’s Own Scottish Borderers, serving with them in Gallipoli from May to July 1915. He was severely wounded in the left leg on 4 June 1915 at the Third Battle of Krithia and evacuated back to England, arriving on 21 July 1915 with a broken fibula, badly sprained ankle and shrapnel wounds.

The Imperial War Museum holds two diaries written by Reeves describing his service in the Great War, first as a private in the 1/1st Battalion Honourable Artillery Company (September 1914 - January 1915) detailing the Battalion's departure from England, a period in St Nazaire as Lines of Communication troops (September 1914 – November 1914), his brief attachment to General Headquarters as a signaller (31 October 1914 - 4 November 1915) and the Battalion's attachment to the 3rd Division, first with the 8th Brigade and then the 9th Brigade, giving a good account of the misery of the conditions during the first winter of the war (November 1914 - January 1915) with references to food, shelling and an inspection by the King (3 December 1914). The second diary describes his time as a subaltern in the 1st Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers (87th Brigade, 29th Division) at Gallipoli (May 1915 - July 1915) describing his journey out through the Mediterranean to Mudros where he was transferred to Helles (26 May 1915) in preparation for the Battalion's part in the Third Battle of Krithia (4 June 1915) during which he was wounded and eventually evacuated to hospitals first on Lemnos and then in Egypt before being returned to England, giving descriptions of conditions at Gallipoli and in the hospitals.

Reeves diaries are quoted at length in ‘Defeat at Gallipoli’ by Nigel Steel and Peter Hart. At Helles on Fir Tree Spur on 4 July 1915, Reeves was in the second wave as they launched themselves over the parapet and he captures the frenzy of that moment. Later in his diary he reflects, following the battle, that although they had done their best it was apparent that further frontal attacks would lead to heavy losses in the face of determined Turkish opposition:
‘I met our Brigade Major who told me the KOSB had done magnificently… but oh! we paid the price – I feel all on edge and very jumpy – what a miracle I wasn’t hit – but oh! I don’t want any more fighting or bayonet charges – I never saw in France or Belgium such a tremendous bombardment or such a hail of shrapnel &c which greeted us’

Reeves had, however, been severely wounded. His injuries rendered him incapable of performing any further duties which required movement and he was found an appointment in the Recruiting Department at Bristol, where he remained for the remainder of the war. He was awarded a Silver War Badge in respect of his wounds.
In 1921 Reeves joined the Imperial Tobacco Company and became a solicitor to the company and a director. He later became County Commandant of the Somerset Special Constabulary and was awarded the British Empire Medal.
Reeves died in 1967 in Henbury, Bristol.

Sold with copied research including ten photographs, six of which feature the recipient as a young boy, in police uniform, and in ceremonial dress.