Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The mounted group of nine miniature dress medals worn by Lieutenant-Colonel D. V. Pirie, Reserve of Officers

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) Officer’s 1st type badge, silver-gilt; Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 4 clasps, Suakin 1884, El-Teb_Tamaai, The Nile 1884-85, Kirbekan; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State; 1914-15 Star [sic]; British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves; Greece, Kingdom, Order of the Redeemer, Officer’s badge, silver-gilt and enamel, with rosette on riband; Serbia, Kingdom, Order of the White Eagle, Military Division, Officer’s badge, silver-gilt and enamel, with rosette on riband; Khedive’s Star, dated 1882, mounted court-style in this order, lacquered, very fine (9) £240-£280

Buckland Dix & Wood, December 1995.

O.B.E. London Gazette 7 June 1918:
‘For services with the British Expeditionary Force, Salonika.’

Greek Order of the Redeemer, Fourth Class London Gazette 21 July 1919.

Serbian Order of the White Eagle, Fourth Class London Gazette 10 September 1918.

Duncan Vernon Pirie was born in Aberdeen on 28 March 1858, and was educated at Trinity College Glenalmond, and Clifton College. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 1st Dragoon Guards, from the Aberdeenshire Militia, in 1879, before transferring to the 7th Dragoon Guards shortly afterwards. Promoted Lieutenant in 1881, he transferred to the 4th Dragoon Guards, and served during the Egyptian Expedition of 1882-84 as an Extra Aide-de-Camp to Major-General Graham, V.C., C.B. Present at the actions of El Magfar, Mahsameh, and Kassassin, for his services he was twice Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 19 September and 2 November 1882). His Egypt Medal was presented to him in 1883 at a Royal Levee at St. James’s Palace, overseen by the Prince of Wales.

Exchanging into the 1st Life Guards in late 1883, Pirie subsequently served during the Sudan Expedition attached to the Staff of the Cavalry Brigade, and was present at the Battles of El Teb and Tamaai, and then took part in the Nile Expedition with the Heavy Camel Regiment. Present at the action at Kirbekan, for his services he was again Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 25 August 1885).

Promoted Captain in the 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers, Pirie was briefly stationed in Ireland before transferring to the 3rd (King’s Own) Hussars in 1880. After serving as Aide-de-Camp to the Governor of Ceylon from 1890 to 1893, he returned to the U.K. and was elected Liberal Member of Parliament for Aberdeen North in 1896, a seat he held for the next 22 years.

Interrupting his parliamentary career, Pirie served in South Africa during the Boer War with the Remounts Department as the Disembarking Officer from 28 July 1900, and then during the Great War with the British Expeditionary Force, initially as a Railway Transport Officer on the Western Front form 28 September 1914, and later as an assistant Military Landing Officer. In 1916 he was appointed temporary Major of the 1st (Garrison) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, and served with them in Salonika, and was afterwards in command of the British Garrison on Corfu from 13 December 1917 to 1 August 1918. For his services during the Great War he was again Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 11 June 1918), and was created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, as well as receiving the Greek Order of the Redeemer and the Serbian Order of the White Eagle.

Advanced Lieutenant-Colonel at the end of the War, Pirie subsequently served as a Deputy Lieutenant of Aberdeen, and was a Member of the King’s Bodyguard for Scotland (the Royal Company of Archers). He died at his French home, the Chateau de Varennes, on 11 January 1931.

For the recipient’s related full-sized awards, see Lot 54.