Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Staff Sergeant W. Ekins, Ordnance Store Corps, Army Service Corps, later Army Ordnance Corps

South Africa 1877-79, no clasp (1431. Pte. W. Ekins. O.S.C.); Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 1 clasp, Tel-el-Kebir (…. Pte. W. Ekins. O.S.C.) four digit number likely 1431 but barely legible; Army L.S. & G.C., V.R., 3rd issue, small letter reverse (1431 S. Sgt. W. Ekins. A.O.C.); Khedive’s Star 1882, unnamed as issued, pitting on Egypt Medal, otherwise generally very fine (4) £600-£800

William Ekins was born in Cambridge in 1860 and attested at Woolwich for the Army Service Corps on 21st January 1879. He sailed to the Cape of Good Hope in May 1879 and served during the Zulu War with the Ordnance Store Corps from 29 May 1879 until 11 November 1880. The medal roll for the South Africa 1877-79 medal also lists his unit as Ordnance Branch, Army Service Corps. He served with the same unit in Egypt from 27 July 1882 until 4 December 1882. Besides one six month period in England in 1894, Ekins next served at Halifax, Nova Scotia from October 1884 until March 1898, when he was finally discharged at his own request, after over 18 years’ service, and having received his final promotion to Staff Sergeant in April 1892. His Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was awarded on 1 September 1897.