Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A post-War C.S.I., inter-War C.I.E. group of six awarded to Lieutenant A. H. Layard, Royal Sussex Regiment and Indian Civil Service

The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, C.S.I., Companion’s neck badge, gold and enamel, with central onyx cameo of a youthful Queen Victoria, the motto of the Order set with small diamonds, with silver star and ring suspension, with neck riband, in Garrard, London, case of issue; The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, C.I.E., Companion’s 3rd type neck badge, gold and enamel, with neck riband, in Garrard, London case of issue; British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. A. H. Layard); Jubilee 1935, unnamed as issued; Coronation 1937, unnamed as issued, the last four mounted as worn, good very fine and better (6) £3,000-£4,000

C.S.I. London Gazette 1 January 1948 (backdated to 14 August 1947).

C.I.E. London Gazette 1 February 1937.

Austen Havelock Layard was born on 20 February 1895, the son of Sir Charles Layard, Chief Justice of Ceylon, and was educated at Rugby and King’s College, Cambridge. During the Great War he was commissioned a Lieutenant and served with the Royal Sussex Regiment, attached to the 2nd Battalion East Surrey Regiment, in Egypt and Salonika. After the war he entered the Indian Civil Service and, having been called to the Bar at Grays Inn, was appointed a Deputy Commissioner in 1926; other appointments included Deputy Commissioner, Delhi, 1932-38; Deputy Commissioner, Nagpur, 1942; Officiating Commissioner, 1943-45; Officiating Chief Secretary, 1946; and Secretary to the Governor of Central Provinces, 1946-47. He retired from the Indian Civil Service in 1948, and for his services he was awarded the C.I.E. in 1937 and C.S.I. in 1947. Post-independence of India, he held appointments in the Office of the High Commissioner for the U.K. in India, at Delhi and Calcutta, 1948-49. He died on 24 March 1956.

Sold with a CD of related family photographs including the recipient receiving the C.S.I. from Lord Mountbatten in the last investiture he held before leaving India.