Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: W. C. Syer, Colonial Service, Nigeria and latterly British Resident of that country at the time of the 1918 operations

Africa General Service 1902-56, [E.VII.R.], 3 clasps, Aro 1901-1902, S. Nigeria 1903-04, S. Nigeria 1904 (Ast. Dist. Commr. W. C. Syer, Aro. F.F.); Africa General Service 1902-56 [G.V.R.], 1 clasp, Nigeria 1918 (W. C. Syer) one or two edge bruises, otherwise generally good very fine and a most unusual ‘double issue’ (2) £800-1000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Richard Magor Collection of Medals Relating to India and Africa, and other Fine Awards.

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William Chevalier Syer was born in 1873 and was educated at Eastbourne College. Appointed a Lieutenant in the Jamaica Militia in 1897, and advanced to Captain in 1900, he attended the School of Musketry at Hythe in the following year.

Syer appears to have arrived on the African scene as an Assistant District Commissioner in Southern Nigeria in June 1901, an appointment that was followed by a stint as an Acting D.C. at Degema between January and October 1902. During this period he was actively engaged in the Aro operations, acting as a Transport Officer in No. 2 column of the Aro Field Force. Syer once again took to the field in the 1903-04 troubles in Southern Nigeria, and served as a Political Officer to the Ekpaffia Field Force in late 1904.

Gaining his first appointment as a District Commissioner in April 1905, he went on to enjoy a successful career out in Nigeria, eventually being appointed the British Resident. And it was while employed in this latter capacity that he won entitlement to the ‘Nigeria 1918’ clasp, when he took to the field as a Political and Intelligence Officer in the provinces of Abeokute and Ijebu-Ode, and came into contact with the rebels (relevant medal roll refers).