Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War M.B.E. group of seven awarded to Honorary Major E. S. Woodiwiss, Canadian Army Medical Corps, late 47th Company 13th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry, a was a noted breeder of cats, dogs and cattle

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 1st type breast badge, silver, hallmarks for London 1919; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (14105 Sgt. E. S. Woodiwiss, 47th Coy. 13th Impl: Yeo:); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 1 clasp, South Africa 1902 (Capt. E. S. Woodiwiss, I.Y.); 1914 -15 Star (Capt: E. S. Woodiwiss Can: A.M.C.); British War and Victory Medals (Hon. Major E. S. Woodiwiss.); Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers’ Decoration, G.V.R., reverse inscribed, ‘Major E. S. Woodiwiss, A.M.C. 1917’, hallmarks for Birmingham 1913, complete with top suspension bar, mounted for display, good very fine (7) £800-£1,000

Lovell Collection, Sotheby’s, November 1978.

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

C.A.F. Decoration G.O. 76 of 15 September 1917.

Edwin Sydney Woodiwiss was born at Derby on 13 December 1871, the youngest of 10 children born to Sir Abraham and lady Emma Woodiwiss. He served in the ranks of the Imperial Yeomanry during the Boer War and was taken prisoner upon the surrender of the 13th Imperial Yeomanry following the disaster at Lindley in May 1900. Sent to Barberton as a special prisoner, he was released upon the surprise arrival of General French on 13 September 1900. He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the Imperial Yeomanry in March 1901, was promoted to Lieutenant in May 1901 and to Captain in November 1901.

After a move to western Manitoba in 1903, Captain Woodiwiss signed Attestation papers to join the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force on 25 September 1914, serving with the Canadian Army Medical Corps. He finished the war in the rank of Major and was awarded the M.B.E. in 1919.

Woodiwiss left an impressive legacy in the cat fancy with his commitment to the Siamese breed, both before and after the First World War; later in the 1930s, he was to play an important part in establishing a solid basis for the breeding of the Abyssinian breed which was to see unforeseen devastation during the coming war. Prior to the Boer War, he was recognised as a breeder of prize-winning Dachshund and Schipperke dogs, and was also a well-known breeder of the diminutive Dexter breed of cattle, winning many major awards. This small herd of just twenty cattle was put up for sale two months after he departed for South Africa to service during the second Boer War.

Major Woodiwiss died in North London on 13 December 1940, and is buried in St Laurence’s Churchyard at Upminster, in the same grave as an infant daughter from his first marriage.