Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An interesting Order of St. John group of nine awarded to Surgeon W. R. Haigh, Serbian Relief Fund

The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Officer‘s (Brother’s) breast badge, gilt and enamel, with heraldic beasts in angles; British War and Victory Medals (W. E. Haigh.) VM officially re-impressed; British Red Cross Society Medal for War Service, bronze; Montenegro, Principality, Order of Danilo, 1st type, Knight’s breast badge, silver and enamel, unmarked; Serbia, Kingdom, Order of St. Sava, Knight’s breast badge, silver and enamel, bishop in green robes, unmarked; Order of the White Eagle, Knight’s breast badge, Civil Division, silver-gilt and enamel, unmarked; Red Cross Society Cross, silver and enamel; Serbian Red Cross Society of London, silver medal for service to Serbia during the War 1914-1918, unnamed, mounted for display purposes, good very fine and better (9) £800-£1,000

William Edwin Haigh ‘was born on 29 August 1878 and received his medical education at University College, London, and St. Bartholomew's Hospital, qualifying in 1909. After resident appointments he took the D.T.M. of Liverpool in 1910 and the F.R.C.S. of England in 1911. Thereafter he had a colourful career, for after working at the Wesleyan Mission Hospital in Hankow he served as a medical officer in the Balkan War. During the Great War he was seconded to the Serbian Army and received several Serbian decorations.
Afterwards he became a member of the medical staff of the League of Nations and carried out some important investigations, the most impressive being his inquiry into the severe incidence of typhus fever in Poland and Russia. He was also the author of a report on malaria in Albania.

Soon after taking the D.P.H. in 1926 Haigh joined the public health staff in Derby, arriving there with a richly deserved reputation as an epidemiologist. He is remembered in Derby mainly for the organisation of the immunisation services, which he raised to a high degree of efficiency. He became deputy medical officer of health in 1941, holding this post up to his retirement in 1946. He was a man of restless energy, whose vital interests in research and quest for perfection were fully sustained. Among his many successes was the award of the Neech prize in 1930 for a thesis on the ventilation of the Derby cinemas: it was probably the first time that the kata thermometer had been used for such a purpose. Dr. Haigh had a wonderful memory and possessed great integrity, knowledge, and professional skill, and his opinions were always greatly valued. Although essentially a quiet man, he was always friendly, and without doubt he was very much liked and respected by all who knew him. His death, in Geneva on 29 November 1961, has evoked many expressions of admiration from his former colleagues.’ (the recipient’s obituary in the British Medical Journal, 13 January 1962, refers).

Haigh served as a Surgeon with the Serbian Relief Fund during the Great War in Serbia from 7 March to 1 August 1915 (not entitled to a 1914-15 Star)