The Jack Webb Collection of Medals and Militaria

A Great War ‘Western Front’ D.S.O., Second War O.B.E. group of seven awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel S. Chart, London Regiment, late Private, 22nd Middlesex (Central London Rangers) Rifle Volunteers and City of London Imperial Volunteers, later Town Clark and Air Raid Precautions Controller, Mitcham

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar; The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Civil) Officer’s 2nd type breast badge, silver-gilt; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, top lugs removed (409 Pte. S. Chart. C.I.V.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Lt. Col. S. Chart.); Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937, mounted as worn, good very fine and better (7) £1,400-£1,800

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

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D.S.O. London Gazette 26 July 1918:
‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. His battalion was sent up to reinforce the brigade. His dispositions were excellent, and he handled the situation with great skill and courage. He maintained his position until ordered to conform to the new situation. Never sparing himself, he set a splendid example of coolness and confidence, and greatly inspired all ranks under him.’

O.B.E. London Gazette 15 June 1945.

Stephen Chart was born in Mitcham, Surrey on 6 December 1878 and was educated at Whitgift School, Croydon. He enlisted into the 22nd Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps (Central London Rangers) on 8 March 1897 and served with their detachment in South Africa during the Boer War in the Infantry Battalion of the City of London Imperial Volunteers.

A qualified Chartered Surveyor, Chart was a member of the firm Chart, Son and Reading, architects and surveyors, 1904-15.
Continuing to serve as a Volunteer with the Rangers and as a Territorial with their successor the 12th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (The Rangers) until 1912, he rejoined the regiment in 1914 with the rank of Captain, and commanded the regiment in France from 5 February 1917, being wounded in October 1918 (gun-shot wound to right leg) - he later wrote three chapters of the 12th Rangers’ regimental history. His brother Geoffrey Chart, who also served during the Boer War, remaining in Cape Town afterwards, died in 1917 from wounds received fighting with the Highlanders at Passchendaele in 1917.

For his services during the Great War, Chart was created a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order; was three times Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazettes 24 December 1917; 25 May 1918; and 30 December 1918), and was promoted Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel.

Continuing after the war as Clerk to the Urban District Council of Mitcham until 1934, Chart was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1945 for these services and his role as Air Raid Precautions Controller, Mitcham, during the Second World War.