Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The medals awarded to Eric Sawyer and Barry Dierks, two charmers who established and ran a successful architectural practice at Cannes, which flourished at the heart of 1920s and 30s Riviera Society

Eight: Lieutenant-Colonel E. G. Sawyer, Intelligence Corps
1914 Star (2. Lieut: E. G. Sawyer); British War and Victory Medals (Major E. G. Sawyer); 1939-45 Star; Italy Star; France and Germany Star; War Medal 1939-45; France, Third Republic, Legion of Honour, Chevalier’s breast badge, silver, gold appliqué, and enamel, poincon mark to base of tassel; together with the recipient’s riband bars, with rosette on 1914 Star riband, and M.I.D. oak leaves emblem on Victory Medal riband, very fine and better

Four: B. Dierks, American Red Cross
United States of America, Freedom Medal, bronze; France, Red Cross Medal, First Class, gilt, the reverse inscribed ‘Offert Par la Croix Rouge Française a Mr. Barry Dierks’, with integral top riband bar; Red Cross Medal, Second Class, silver, the reverse inscribed ‘M. B. Dierks’, with integral top riband bar; Italy, Kingdom, Italian Red Cross Merit Medal, bronze, unnamed as issued; together with the recipient’s Red Cross identity bracelet, silver, this inscribed ‘Barry Dierks Cannes Anglo-American Ambulance Corps’, on fitted chain; and a ‘Liaison Française’ lapel badge, bronze and enamel, good very fine (12) £1,800-£2,200

French Legion of Honour, Chevalier London Gazette 21 April 1917.

Eric George Sawyer was born in Aldershot, Hampshire, in 1889, and was educated at Cheltenham College. After graduating as an engineer from the Royal School of Mines in London, he was commissioned Second Lieutenant, General List, on 6 August 1914, and served with the Intelligence Corps during the Great War on the Western Front from 13 August 1914. He was promoted temporary Captain on 20 April 1915, and was Mentioned in General Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatch of 30 April 1916 (London Gazette 15 June 1916). He was promoted temporary Major on 1 April 1918, and temporary Lieutenant-Colonel on 8 March 1919. For his services during the Great War, where he latterly held a post in the Claims Commission, he was awarded the French Legion of Honour. He relinquished his commission on 4 July 1919, and was granted the honorary rank of Major.

Following the cessation of hostilities, Sawyer remained in Paris, and was appointed managing director of the Choilet Bank. Whilst in Paris he met the American architect Barry Dierks, and soon after they opened an architectural practice together on the French Riviera, with Dierks the architect and Sawyer the manager. With family money they built their home, a villa called ‘Le Trident’, named after a local rock feature on the beach, overlooking the sea at Theoule-sur-Mer. Hewn into the rock, ‘Le Trident’ was an extraordinary achievement. Not only was it the first building that Dierks had designed, but, as it was situated precariously on a steep and rocky cliff, Sawyer’s engineering and mining skills had been vital. Greatly admired, their house became the focal point for both their entertaining and in the cultivation of prospective clients. Their first commission came later that year from the author Somerset Maugham, and over the course of the inter-War period their practice flourished, and they designed and built over 100 houses and villas in and around Cannes and Antibes, of which 28 were for members of the aristocracy. Described as ‘the two charmers’, Sawyer and Dierks were at the centre of Riviera society, and their guests included the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Simpson, Winston Churchill, and various Hollywood stars.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Sawyer initially remained on the Riviera, under the Vichy regime, and attended early meetings of the Resistance movement. Although unconfirmed, it is probable that he was working for the Special Operations Executive during this period, and he assisted in various clandestine operations. In January 1943 his cover was blown, and he fled France across the Pyrenees, his last act at ‘Le Trident’ being to write in the visitors’ book: ‘End of an Epoch. Exeunt Eric and Barry.’

Returning to the U.K., Sawyer formally re-joined the Intelligence Corps on 15 March 1943, and served in North Africa and Italy as a Staff Officer in Civil Affairs, before joining the French section of the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, set-up to plan the invasion of Europe. He relinquished his commission on 18 September 1946, and was granted the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Returning to ‘Le Trident’ following the cessation of hostilities, he and Dierks resumed their practice, and their social life, the highlight of which was the invitation to the wedding of their near neighbour Prince Rainier to Grace Kelly in 1956. He died at ‘Le Trident’ in 1985, 25 years after Dierks’ death, and is buried alongside him.

Barry Dierks was born in Butte, Montana, in 1889, and served during the Great War as a Sub-Lieutenant in the American Army, without seeing active service. Studying architecture at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, he graduated in 1921, and emigrated to Paris. Newly arrived in Paris he met Eric Sawyer in the Ritz bar, and soon afterwards they opened their architectural practice together on the French Riviera. Dierks subsequently served during the Second World War with the American Red Cross, as part of the Anglo-American Ambulance Corps at Cannes, before being interned in Baden Baden after America’s entry into the War, and then, in 1943, being deported, along with the rest of the American internees at Baden Baden, to America. Returning to the south of France following the end of the War, he continued working until his death at ‘Le Trident’ in 1960.

Sold with a copy of the book ‘Riviera Dreaming’ by Maureen Emerson, which gives an account of Sawyer’s and Dierks’ lives on the French Riviera from 1920 onwards, the title page inscribed ‘To the keeper of these artefacts- remember two audacious lives’ and signed ‘Maureen Emerson’.