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

An important Jutland C.B. group of eight awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel C. E. Collard, R.M., the senior Royal Marine officer afloat during the Battle

The Most Honourable Order of The Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s breast badge, in silver-gilt and enamels, converted for neck wear; East and Central Africa 1897-99, 1 clasp, Uganda 1897-98 (Capt., R.M.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Cape Colony, Rhodesia, Orange Free State, Transvaal (Capt., R.M.L.I.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Capt., R.M.L.I.); 1914 Star (Major, R.M. Brigade); British War and Victory Medals (Lt. Col.); Russian Order of St. Stanislaus, 2nd class neck badge with swords, gold and enamels, maker’s marks for K. Edouard, St. Petersburg, one sword tip detached, the British War Medal with officially re-impressed naming, otherwise generally good very fine (8) £4000-5000

C.B. London Gazette 15 September 1916 (Jutland):

‘For very materially assisting in controlling the gunfire of H.M.S. Benbow from an exposed position in the control top.’

Order of St. Stanislaus London Gazette 5 June 1917 (Jutland).

Charles Edwin Collard, who was born in August 1868 and commissioned into the Royal Marines in September 1887, was seconded for service in the Uganda Rifles in January 1898. He subsequently participated in the Uganda operations of the latter year, and, in 1899, commanded the forces in the expedition into Wyoma country. He was duly awarded the East and Central Africa Medal with ‘Uganda 1897-98’ clasp - very probably a unique award to the Royal Marines - and was mentioned in despatches.

During the Boer War, Collard was again seconded for special service, on this occasion in the Rand Rifles, and between May and November 1900 he was attached to the Rhodesian Field Force, services that earned him one of just two ‘Rhodesia’ clasps to be awarded to officers of the Royal Marines. Latterly employed on the Staff of the Military Governor of Johannesburg, he witnessed further active service in the Transvaal and Orange Free State 1901-02, and became one of just a dozen men of the Royal Marines to be awarded the King’s South Africa Medal. In December 1902, he was appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant General for Musketry on the Permanent Staff of the Volunteer Force in the Transvaal, with the local rank of Major, in addition to which, prior to being placed on the Reserve of Officers R.M., he served as Chief Staff Officer to the Transvaal Volunteers until March 1906.

Recalled on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, Collard landed at Ostend in the same month, with a Special Service Battalion of the R.M. Brigade. He next volunteered for a seagoing appointment, and, even though aged 47 years, was successful in gaining a post aboard H.M.S. Benbow, in which ship he served as the senior Royal Marine officer afloat at the Battle of Jutland (C.B.; Despatches; Order of St. Stanislaus).

Collard, ‘a keen sportsman and rifle-shot’ who ended the War as C.O. of the defences of the Shetland Islands, died in 1942.