Auction Catalogue

6 July 2004

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Grand Connaught Rooms  61 - 65 Great Queen St  London  WC2B 5DA

Lot

№ 536

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6 July 2004

Hammer Price:
£250

Pair: Warrant Officer Class I J. Rodger, Gordon Highlanders

India General Service 1854-95,
1 clasp, Waziristan 1894-95 (3270 Pte., 1/Gor. Hrs.); India General Service 1895-1902, 3 clasps, Relief of Chitral 1895, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Tirah 1897-98 (3270 Pte., 1/Gor. Hrs.), both official engraved replacements, circa 1900, contact wear, edge bruising and polished, fine or better (2) £250-300

James “Whang” Rodger was born near Glasgow and enlisted in the Gordon Highlanders in October 1889. Some five years later, he was one of just ten men from the 1st Battalion who participated in the Waziristan operations of 1894-95 as a signaller. Returning to normal regimental employ, he subsequently served with the 1st Battalion in the Chitral and Tirah operations on the North West Frontier 1897-98, as well as in the Boer War, the latter conflict earning him the Queen’s Medal with clasps for “Cape Colony”, “Paardeberg”, “Driefontein”, “Johannesburg” and “Belfast”, and the King’s Medal with 2 clasps.

Having been discharged as a Sergeant in November 1910, Rodger re-enlisted on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914 and was appointed a Company Sergeant-Major in the 10th Battalion of his old regiment. He went out to France in July 1915, was mentioned in despatches (1 January 1916) and ended the War as a Warrant Officer Class I. He was discharged in 1919 and died in London in November 1937, where he had been employed by the Corps of Commissionaires.

Note
As confirmed by Lieutenant-Colonel K. Dingwall in a letter to the regimental journal,
The Tiger & Sphinx, in September 1938, several members of the 1st Battalion ‘suffered loss through the theft of their medals’ soon after arrival back in Edinburgh in 1898, Rodger among them. However, ‘most of the victims were able to replace these medals at their own expense after a period of six months’: undoubtedly, as per the above described awards, these replacements were issued via official channels.

When Rodger died in 1937, his widow presented his awards, including his replacement India General Service Medals, to the regimental museum. Shortly afterwards, however, Lieutenant-Colonel Dingwall was able to purchase from the Dr. Ernest Blair collection Rodger’s two original awards (i.e. the ones stolen in 1898), and duly presented them to the same establishment; the present vendor was presented with the replacements as a token of thanks for his work in cataloguing the regimental collection in the 1970s.