Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The historically important Great War Memorial Plaque to Field Marshal Earl Kitchener of Khartoum who was lost at sea when H.M.S. Hampshire struck a mine off Orkney on 5 June 1916 - he was the highest ranking British officer to die in action during the Great War

Memorial Plaque (Horatio Herbert Earl Kitchener of Khartoum) good very fine £6,000-£8,000

Horatio Herbert, 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, the great Victorian soldier, and the face of the famous Great War recruiting poster, was killed in action when H.M.S. Hampshire, conveying him on a diplomatic mission to Russia, struck a German-mine off the Orkney on 5 June 1916, and sank within 15 minutes with the loss of 737 lives. He was the highest ranking British officer to die in action during the Great War. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Hollybrook Memorial, Southampton.

Earl Kitchener’s group of campaign medals, on display at the Royal Engineers Museum, Chatham, are all official replacements for those lost at sea in 1916, together with replacement Great War medals, and are all marked as such. Various of his original issue Great War medals and bronze memorial plaque, deemed superfluous in the light of his replacement set, have appeared on the market over the years. His original Victory Medal has previously been sold in these rooms, most recently in March 2017.

Lord Kitchener’s Memorial Plaque was reputedly the first one to be produced at the Acton Factory, and a small number (some sources say 4, others 6) are known to have been cast, presumably as trial pieces. Another casting of his plaque (note the slight difference in the alignment of the letters in his name) was also used in various newspaper reports announcing the institution of the Memorial Plaque.