Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Surgeon-Major R. C. C. Hickson, M.D., Army Medical Department, onetime Medical Officer of the 1/24th Foot, he served in the Kaffir War of 1877-78, and in the Egyptian War of 1882 at the battle of Kassassin where he received a mention in despatches

South Africa 1877-79, 1 clasp, 1877-8 (Surgn. Maj: R. C. C. Hickson. M.D. A.M. Dept.); Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, no clasp (Surgn. Maj: R. C. C. Hickson. A.M. Dept.); Khedive’s Star, dated 1882, unnamed, toned, very fine or better (3) £1,600-£2,000

Only 11 clasps dated ‘1877-8’ issued to the Army Medical Department, Hickson being the most senior recipient.

Richard Charles Coleman Hickson was born at Cashel, Ireland, on 13 August 1841. He qualified AB (1862), LKQCPI (1863), LRCSI (1863), MD (Dublin 1880). Appointed Staff Assistant Surgeon, 31 March 1864; served on the Hazara expedition, North West Frontier, 1868; Assistant Surgeon 1/24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot, 25 March 1871; to Staff at Gibraltar 1873 and appointed Garrison Medical Officer there in 1874; Medical Officer 1/24th Foot, September 1874; promoted to Surgeon-Major, 28 April 1875.

Surgeon-Major Hickson was senior medical officer Ciskei District in the South African war of 1877-78 (Kaffir campaign). In November 1878, he was in medical charge at Cape Town. In May 1879, he volunteered for employment in the war and proceeded via Durban to Newcastle to take charge of the depôt there, and was senior medical officer of the Utrecht District until the conclusion of hostilities. He served in the Egyptian expedition of 1882 with 1st Bearer Company, being present at the battle of Kassassin where he received a mention in despatches. He was with Surgeon-Major George Shaw when the latter was killed at Kassassin on 28 August 1882.

He served in the Bengal Command from September 1886 and, in August 1887, was granted leave of absence on medical certificate but died at sea on board S.S. Quetta, 13 August 1887.

Among his publications were: A Case of Primary Cancer of the Liver (Dublin Journal of Medical Science 1888, Vol. 69) which was his thesis for the MD degree, and Report on wounds and injuries treated during the Kaffir War 1877-1878 (A.M.D. Report, Vol. 20, 1878).