Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An inter-War Knight Bachelor, Great War ‘Western Front’ M.C. group of seven awarded to Captain Sir John H. Morris-Jones, British Red Cross Society and Order of St. John of Jerusalem, later Royal Army Medical Corps, who initially served as Medical Officer at Lady Hadfield’s Hospital at Wimereux, before being recommended for the Distinguished Service Order for his gallantry in the action on the Menin Road, 25-27 September 1917, whilst attached to the 2nd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. A prominent politician, he subsequently served as Liberal Member of Parliament for Denbigh, and as a Government Whip

Knight Bachelor’s Badge, 2nd type breast badge, silver-gilt and enamel, hallmarks for London 1935, significant damage to red enamel, in Royal Mint case of issue; Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914 Star (J. H. Morris-Jones. B.R.C.S. & O. St. J.J.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leave (Capt. J. H. Morris-Jones); Jubilee 1935, unnamed as issued; Coronation 1937, unnamed as issued (7) £1,800-£2,200

M.C. London Gazette 6 April 1918:
‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He carried on his duties at his aid post during an enemy attack under very heavy fire. He also visited wounded men who were lying out in the heaviest of the fire, and went up to the front line to attend to the wounded. He showed total disregard of his own safety, and encouraged all by his cheerful and courageous demeanour’.

Sir John Henry Morris-Jones was born in Waunfawr, Caernarfonshire, on 2 November 1884 and was educated at Menai Bridge Grammar School and St. Mungo’s College, Glasgow, qualifying as a doctor in 1906. He practised as a General Practitioner in Colwyn Bay, Denbighshire for some 20 years and took an active part in the public life of the town and county, becoming Chairman of the Colwyn Bay Urban District Council and a member of the Denbighshire County Council. During the Great War he served initially with the British Red Cross Society as Medical Officer at Lady Hadfield’s Hospital at Wimereux from 11 November 1914, and subsequently as a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Attached to the 2nd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment, he was recommended for the Distinguished Service Order for his gallantry in the action on the Menin Road, 25-27 September 1917, and in the event was awarded the Military Cross

Morris-Jones was elected as the Liberal M.P. for Denbigh in 1929, a seat he was to hold until he retired in 1950. He was Assistant Government Whip, 1932-35 and a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, 1935-37. Knighted in 1937, he chaired the Welsh Parliamentary Party 1941-42 and served as a Parliamentary Delegate to Buchenwald Concentration Camp in April 1945. The author of Doctor in the Whip’s Room, 1955, he died on 9 July 1972.

Sold with a copy of Doctor in the Whip’s Room, by the recipient (211pp, with index); a portrait photograph of the recipient, mounted in a glazed display frame; and copied research.