Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part I)

A Great War O.B.E. group of five awarded to Captain G. A. Stephen, Gordon Highlanders

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) Officer’s 1st type breast badge, silver-gilt, hallmarks for London 1919; 1914 Star, with (copy) clasp (Capt., Gord. Highrs.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt.); Territorial Decoration, G.V.R., the reverse inscribed, ‘Major George A. Stephen’, good very fine or better (5) £250-300

O.B.E. London Gazette 3 June 1919.

George Andrew Stephen was born in April 1879 and was educated at Blairlodge School, Stirlingshire, and at Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities. A solicitor and bank manager by profession, he was a pre-war officer of the 1/6th (Banff and Donside) Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, T.F., and landed with the Battalion in France on 10 November 1914.

Moving up to the trenches with his men that December, he must have witnessed many of the extraordinary incidents that befell his Battalion during the famous “Christmas Truce”. “No shoot to night Jock!” was a regular call of the enemy and, no doubt, prompted several of the friendly meetings that took place in “No Man’s Land”. Indeed so friendly did relations become, that one German soldier caused a major incident when the 1/6th were suddenly visited by the Brigade Commander. Ray Westlake’s British Battalion in France & Belgium 1914 takes up the story:

‘Noticing one of the enemy walking peacefully around and in full view, the Brigadier ordered one man to fire. The rifleman aimed high but the German took no notice. Another shot, this time wide, caused him to look up in surprise. A third and this time more accurate round, ordered by the Brigadier, had the effect of sending the astonished German headlong into a trench. The truce came to an end on 3 January 1915.’

Stephen remained on active service in France with the 1/6th until December 1915, when he returned home to an appointment on the Instructional Staff of the Machine Gun Corps. Latterly appointed to the command of No. 2 (Reserve) Battalion, M.G.C., he was created an O.B.E. at the War’s end.