Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (4301 Tpr. H. G. Hinton, 7th N. Z’land M.R.) dated clasps riveted together but loose on riband, very fine £500-550

Henry Geoffrey Hinton, originally a native of Invercargill but subsequently of Southland Province, New Zealand, was embarked for South Africa in the Gulf of Taranto in April 1901, and subsequently witnessed active service in No. 23 (Nelson) Company, 7th New Zealand Contingent.

His son, Sergeant John D. Hinton, 20th Battalion, 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (The Canterbury Regiment), was awarded the V.C. for his great gallantry at Kalami, Greece in April 1941, when, in the face of enemy armoured cars - and guns of 2 to 6-inch calibre - he killed the crews of two gun emplacements, one of them with the bayonet. He then fell seriously wounded and was taken P.O.W. (London Gazette 17 October 1941 refers). Hinton, Jnr., who was born at Riverton in Southland Province in September 1909, survived his wounds and was New Zealand’s last surviving V.C. when he died at Christchurch in June 1997, aged 87 years.