Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Lieutenant-Colonel P. G. Von Donop, Royal Engineers

Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, 1 clasp, The Nile 1884-85 (Capt. P. G. Von Donop, 8th Co. R.E.); Khedive’s Star 1884-86, light pitting from star, otherwise very fine (2) £200-250

Pelham George Von Donop was born at Southsea on 28 April 1851, son of Vice-Admiral E. P. Von Donop. He was educated at Somerset College, Bath, and at the Royal Military Academy, obtaining a commission in the Royal Engineers in December 1871. Von Donop was not only a noted cricketer but also an exceptionally fine Association football player, described at the time as “The Prince of Dribblers”. He played in the F.A. cup finals of 1874 and 1875 when the R.E. team won the cup on each occasion. He was also a first-class lawn tennis player, winning the West of England Championship at Bath in 1884. Later that year Von Donop accompanied the 8th Company R.E. to Egypt, arriving at Alexandria in September and pushing on up the Nile to Wady Halfa, terminus of the Soudan Railway, where he was appointed Traffic Manager (Medal with Clasp; Bronze Star).

In 1888 he was appointed Inspector of Submarine Defences in India, and, in 1894, after his return home, he was appointed Officer Commanding the 2nd Division Telegraph Battalion, entrusted with the supervision of the whole of the Postal Telegraphs south of the Thames. In May 1898 he was appointed Commanding Royal Engineer at Dover and, towards the end of the following year, he was made an Inspector of Railways under the Board of Trade. In this capacity he was the Inspecting Officer into the Grantham disaster of 19 September 1906, when fourteen people were killed in an incident that was never fully explained. He became Chief Inspector of Railways in 1913 and retired in August 1916. Early in 1921 he developed a serious illness which eventually proved fatal on the 7th November.