Auction Catalogue

20 August 2020

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

The Jack Webb Collection of Medals and Militaria

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Lot

№ 591

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20 August 2020

Hammer Price:
£1,100

The mounted group of twenty miniature dress medals attributed to Private J. L. Sleeman, 21st Middlesex (Finsbury) Rifle Volunteers and City of London Imperial Volunteers, later Sir James Sleeman, Colonel, Royal Sussex Regiment, and Chief of Staff of the New Zealand Forces

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Civil Division, silver-gilt; The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, silver-gilt and enamel; The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, 1st type, Military Division, silver-gilt and enamel; Royal Victorian Order, silver-gilt and enamel; Order of St. John of Jerusalem, silver and enamel, with heraldic beasts in angles; Queen’s South Africa, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal; King’s South Africa, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902; 1914-15 Star; British War and Victory Medals; General Service 1918-62, 2 clasps, Palestine, Malaya; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937; Efficiency Decoration, G.VI.R., 1st issue, Territorial, with 3 G.VI.R. Additional Award Bars; Special Constabulary Long Service, G.V.R., 2nd issue, with Long Service 1939 and 1941 bars; Service medal of the Order of St. John, with 2 Additional Award Bars and with silver laurel-leaf emblem on ribbon; League of Mercy, silver-gilt and enamel, with Long Service Additional Award Bar; Japan, Empire, Order of the Sacred Treasure, Fourth Class, silver-gilt and enamel, with rosette on riband, mounted Court-style as worn, and housed in a leather case, slight enamel damage, very fine and better (20) £400-£500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Jack Webb Collection of Medals and Militaria.

View The Jack Webb Collection of Medals and Militaria

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Collection

Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, September 2002.

C.B. (Civil)
London Gazette 1 January 1936.

C.M.G.
London Gazette 4 June 1921:
‘In recognition of services as Director of Military Training, New Zealand Military Forces.’

C.B.E. (Military)
London Gazette 3 June 1919.

M.V.O.
London Gazette 15 October 1920:
‘Director of Military Training, Wellington.’

Order of St. John, Knight of Justice
London Gazette 23 June 1931.

Sir James Lewis Sleeman was born on 7 March 1880, the grandson of Major-General Sir William Sleeman, K.C.B., suppressor of the Thuggee in India. He joined the 21st Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps (The Finsbury Rifles) in 1896 and served with their contingent in South Africa during the Boer War with the No. 2 Mounted Infantry Company of the City Imperial Volunteers. He was on the Staff of Lord Roberts at Bloemfontein and was severely wounded at Thaba Nehu in 1900. Commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Royal Sussex Regiment on 24 July 1901, serving as a scout officer and a company commander, he made the last capture of prisoners in the Boer War. Promoted Captain on 2 February 1911, he served during the Great War on the Western Front, was promoted Major on 24 July 1916, and was appointed Second in Command of the 7th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment. He was on the Imperial General Staff, Director of Military Training and attaché to the Japanese Fleet on war service during 1916-18. For his services during the Great War he was twice Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the C.B.E. in 1919.

Post-War Sleeman held the post of Chief of Staff of New Zealand Forces, 1919-21 and took part in numerous tours of inspection around the Empire; attaining the rank of Colonel in 1930 and being awarded the M.V.O. in 1920, C.M.G. in 1921, and C.B. in 1936. He was knighted in 1946 (
London Gazette 13 June 1946). An author on several works on military training and the suppression of the Thugs, he died on 4 November 1963.