Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

British Red Cross Society Medal for the Balkan Wars 1912-13, 1 clasp, Montenegro, silver-gilt and enamel, reverse inscribed ‘Freeman de L. Williams’, good very fine, scarce £300-£400

Freeman de Lancey Williams, the son of Lieutenant-General Sir William ‘Devil’ Williams, K.C.B., Royal Artillery, and the brother of Weir de Lancey Williams, served as a Trooper with the Ceylon Mounted Infantry Contingent in South Africa during the Boer War (Queen’s South Africa Medal with clasps for Cape Colony and Driefontein), and subsequently with the British Red Cross Society during the Balkan War in Montenegro. He saw further service during the Great War with a Volunteer Hospital as part of the British Expeditionary Force on the Western front from 29 August 1914, and was ultimately commissioned into the Labour Corps.

For the medals awarded to the recipient’s brother, see Lot 78.