Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Lieutenant F. M. Edwards, Egyptian Camel Transport Corps, a Cross Country Blue at Cambridge, who was selected for the 3 mile team race at the 1908 Olympics, and was employed as a translator for Lord Allenby on his entrance into Jerusalem. He later served in the Egyptian Civil Service, and with the Cambridgeshire Home Guard

1914-15 Star (2. Lieut. F. M. Edwards. A.S.C.); British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. F. M. Edwards.); Defence Medal; Egypt, Order of the Nile, 5th Class breast badge, by Lattes, silver, silver-gilt and enamel, generally good very fine (5) £400-£500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from an Africa Collection.

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Egypt, Order of the Nile, 5th Class London Gazette 16 March 1926: ‘Francis Millward Edwards, Esq., Inspector, Egyptian Ministry of Finance, Damanhur, Egypt.’
Francis Millward Edwards was born in Barton Regis, Bristol in March 1886. He studied Theology at Queens’ College, Cambridge, and was a Blue for Cross-Country - representing the university in the 3 mile race against Oxford on four occasions. Edwards was selected for the 3 mile team race at the 1908 Olympics, but was not called upon to run. An Arabic speaker, before the war he worked for the Egyptian Ministry of Education and was an assistant master at Tewfikia School. Edwards was appointed a second lieutenant with the Egypt Camel Transport Corps on 30 December 1915 and served at Kantara as Section Officer of ‘B’ Company. He was admitted to hospital at Cairo on 22 October 1916 and was found to be suffering from neurasthenia - his medical report stating: ‘... agitated; states that he is unable to control himself with natives. He is quite unfit for any work. Recommended for change to England, as he is unlikely to be fit for a long time.’
The doctor’s report was acted upon and Edwards was invalided to England in November 1916 aboard H.M.H.S. Herefordshire and thence Britannic. Recovering, he returned to Egypt in March 1917 and saw service in Palestine and Egypt with the Camel Transport Corps, where he acted as interpreter to Lord Allenby upon his entrance into Jerusalem. Edwards was released from military service on 17 June 1919 and in 1921 was granted the rank of lieutenant. Remaining in Egypt, Edwards was employed as an inspector with the Ministry of Finance and in 1926 was awarded the Order of the Nile. His life at this time in the Egyptian Civil Service is illustrated in Tales of Empire by D. Hopwood.

Edwards returned to the UK, and was residing in Cambridge at the time of the Second World War. He served with the Cambridgeshire Home Guard, and his service is recalled in Adventures with Authors by S. C. Roberts:

‘Another part-time activity was service in the Home Guard. Being enrolled in the Trumpington platoon, I took part in the feverish preparation of a road-block at the junction of the Trumpington Road and Brooklands Avenue. The platoon was a healthy mix of town and gown.... As an instructor in anti-gas measures, I reached the rank of corporal. My closest friend in the platoon was F. M. Edwards, an old cross country running Blue of Queens’. He and I had many adventures together and the one Sunday morning I recall with real pleasure was that of a ‘security’ exercise in which the Trumpington platoon’s objective was to obtain a foothold on the railway bridge over the river, which would be strongly guarded by the Chesterton company. The role assigned to me, late on the Saturday night, was to pose as a staff officer. An Army car was put at my disposal and I was lent a major’s great-coat. Frank Edwards acted as my orderly and with the aid of a false moustache and a strip of red flannel round my hat, I bluffed my way through barbed wire and fixed bayonets to the bridge with considerable gusto and much to the amusement of Guy Dale, the C.O. of the Battalion.’

Edwards died in Bath, Somerset in March 1976, and his papers are held at the Middle East Centre, St. Antony’s College, Oxford.

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