Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An Order of St. John group of four awarded to Deputy Superintendent A. I. Cresswell, St. John Ambulance Brigade

The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Officer‘s (Brother’s) breast badge, silvered base metal and enamel, with heraldic beasts in angles; Defence Medal; Civil Defence Long Service Medal, E.II.R.; St. John Service Medal, silver, with 6 Additional Award Bars (17444 D/Supt. A. I. Cresswell, Alex Docks Div. Priory for Wales S.J.A.B. 1932) mounted as worn, significant enamel damage and subsequent restoration to first, otherwise very fine (4) £70-£90

Officer of the Order of St. John London Gazette 29 June 1956.

Serving Brother of the Order of St. John London Gazette 29 June 1948.

Albert Ivor Cresswell was born in Newport in 18 September 1901 and worked on the railways, as well as serving in the Royal Artillery from 1921-25. He joined the St. John Ambulance Brigade in 1922, and was awarded his Service Medal on 9 December 1938 as Divisional Superintendent in the Alexandra Docks Division, Newport. He was appointed a Serving Brother and later an Officer of the Order of St. John, and ended up as Deputy Commissioner, Newport County, St. John Ambulance Brigade. He died in Newport in 1980.

The Cresswell family were long associated with St. John Ambulance in the Newport area going back as far as the 1880’s when Wales was part of the Priory of England. The Newport St. John Ambulance Brigade was closely tied to the local Civil Defence organisation during the Second World War.