Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part II)

The important K.C.B., K.C.V.O., K.P.M. group of twelve awarded to Major Sir Frederick Wodehouse, Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, formerly City of London Police and late Royal Artillery, who was the senior police officer present at the famous “Siege of Sidney Street”

The Most Honourable Order of The Bath, K.C.B. (Civil) Knight Commander’s set of insignia, comprising neck badge, silver-gilt, hallmarks for London 1913, and breast star, in silver, with gold and enamel centre; The Royal Victorian Order, K.C.V.O., Knight Commander’s set of insignia, comprising neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, and breast star, in silver, with silver, gilt and enamel centre, both pieces officially numbered ‘260’; King’s Police Medal, G.V.R., 1st issue (Major Sir, K.C.V.O., C.B., Asst. Commr., Met. Pol.); Afghanistan 1878-80, 1 clasp, Ali Musjid (Lieut., 13/9 Bde., R.A.); Jubilee 1897, silver, general issue, privately engraved, ‘Major E. F. Wodehouse’; Jubilee 1897, bronze, City of London Police issue (Major); Coronation 1902, silver, general issue; Coronation 1902, silver, City of London Police issue (Maj., Assis. Commissioner) one of only 5 silver awards of this medal; Coronation 1911, Metropolitan Police issue (Asst. Commissioner Sir, K.C.V.O., C.B.); French Legion of Honour, Officer’s breast badge, gold and enamel, second initial on the Afghanistan Medal officially corrected, enamel work slightly chipped in places, edge bruising and contact wear, otherwise generally good very fine and rare (12) £3500-4000

K.C.B. London Gazette 4 June 1917: ‘In recognition of services during the War.’

K.C.V.O. London Gazette 19 June 1911.

K.P.M. London Gazette 1 January 1914. The original recommendation states:

‘Major Sir E. F. Wodehouse, K.C.V.O., C.B., is Assistant Commissioner of Metropolitan Police. In this capacity and previously as Assistant Commissioner of City Police, he has rendered 23 years able and devoted service. He has shown special ability in administration and while in charge of the Metropolitan Police during Sir Edward Henry’s absence in India, and on other occasions, he has dealt successfully with situations of danger and difficulty.’

Frederick Wodehouse was born in February 1851, the son of Colonel Edwin Wodehouse, C.B., R.A., and was educated privately and at the R.M.A. Woolwich, from which establishment he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Gunners in January 1870.

He subsequently witnessed active service with No. 13 Battery, 9th Brigade, R.A., in the Second Afghan War, which unit marched from Peshawar in November 1879 to join Sir Sam Browne’s force at Jamrud. Two days later it was engaged in the frontal attack on Ali Musjid, opening fire from a position on the Shargai Heights at a range of 2850 yards. Six rounds completely silenced the Afghan artillery in the Fort, but the Battery’s three Armstrong guns were kept in action till dusk - ‘In performing this duty the officers and men were frequently fired upon by the Afridis, the officers on one occasion using their revolvers in defence’. At daybreak next morning, it was found that Ali Musjid had been evacuated during the night, and that the enemy had left behind 25 guns and a large quantity of ammunition, the greater part of which was removed by 13 Battery.

Wodehouse’s unit remained in position on Shargai Ridge after the departure of the main body of the Division, and, though reinforced by Major Hazelrigg’s Battery and details of cavalry and infantry, was subject to incessant attacks by Afridis for eight days. It was only the arrival of Brigadier-General Appleyard and the 81st Foot that enabled it to be withdrawn - together with the captured guns - to Peshawar.

At Peshawar Wodehouse transferred to I Battery, C Brigade, R.H.A., and moved forward with it to Daka which was reached in January 1880. On the 15th of that month, the Battery formed part of a small mixed force under Colonel Boisragon and participated in an engagement with the Khan of Lalpura and his followers, who had crossed the Kabul River and occupied the Gara Heights at the western mouth of the Khyber Pass. For services performed in this action near Kam Daka, in which his unit shelled the heights and enabled the infantry to carry them, Wodehouse was mentioned in despatches, and was advanced to Captain in May 1880.

Retiring from the Army in the rank of Major in 1890, Wodehouse was appointed Assistant Commissioner of the City of London Police, serving that force until 1902 - the year in which he received his extremely rare silver issue Coronation Medal, one of just five such awards - when he became an Assistant Commissioner with the Metropolitan Police.

In 1910, a year after having been created a C.B., he was the senior Metropolitan officer present at the “Siege of Sidney Street” in Whitechapel, which incident arose from a bungled break-in in Houndsditch and the shooting dead of the three City Police officers who had disturbed the culprits. Two Russian anarchists having been tracked to No. 100 Sidney Street, in the small hours of 2 January City officers surrounded the house and set up a command post across the street in a haulier’s yard. At dawn, Detective Inspector Fred Wensley was trying to attract the anarchists attention by throwing stones up at their windows, when streams of semi-automatic fire issued from the house hitting one officer. City officers returned fire and the battle began. Seeing that the policemen’s cumbersome service revolvers were no match for the Russians semi-automatic Mausers, the senior City officers on the spot telephoned Scotland Yard to ask for troops and ‘They were presently joined by their Commissioner, Sir William Nott-Bower; soon after nine, however, Major Woodhouse, Assistant Commissioner ‘A’, arrived, and took command, the battlefield being Metropolitan’.

Famously Winston Churchill, then Home Secretary and the supreme police authority in the land, visited the besieging forces, arriving at about 11 a.m. By this time two squads of Scots Guards from the Tower had taken up positions on the street and and were engaging the Russians. A less welcome arrival was a detachment of Royal Horse Artillery from St John’s Wood barracks, summoned ‘by some alarmist in authority’, possibly, it has to be said, by ex-Gunner Major Wodehouse himself, although the guns, of course, were never used. Churchill was subsequently accused of taking charge of the siege, but it may fairly be assumed that control of the batttle remained under Wodehouse’s authority, for it is generally agreed that the Home Secretary only expressed his concerns for the safety of the public, and inspected the rear of 100 Sidney Street to ensure that the anarchists could not escape that way - by the time he returned from his foray the house was firmly ablaze and the fate of the occupants sealed. Nor, it seems, can he have been that displeased with Wodehouse’s performance, for it was on his recommendation - via the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police - that the Major was created in K.C.V.O. in the Coronation Honours of the following year (Churchill papers, reference CHAR 12/10/12 refer).

Awarded the K.P.M. in January 1914, and created a K.C.B. in June 1917 for his services in the War, Wodehouse found himself once more in a position of great responsibility in the summer of 1918, when, in the absence of the Commissioner, the Police Union called its 12,000 members out on strike. Uniformed constables, who referred to themselves as “strikers” but who by definintion were mutineers, failed to report for duty and were noticeably absent from the streets, it being left to C.I.D. officers to carry out foot patrols as best they could. To deal with the crisis Wodehouse turned to King’s Regulations, specifically No. 956, which provided for the placing troops at the call of the Commissioner, or an Assistant Commissioner, for then maintenance of the public peace. The regulation had been invoked before, but never on such a scale as Wodehouse requested from the G.O.C. London District on Friday 31 August 1918:

‘A detachment of Scots Guards marched to Scotland Yard, where the gates were closed; Grenadiers, in steel helmets, filled the quadrangle of the Foreign Office ... ‘F’ Division was a dangerous area, and 100 Guardsmen drove in lorries from Wellington Barracks to Paddington Police Station ...’

Wodehouse, who retired later that same year, died in April 1934.