Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War M.B.E., M.C. pair awarded to Captain G. W. Duncan, Seaforth Highlanders

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Civil) Officer’s 1st type breast badge, hallmarks for London 1918; Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued, extremely fine (2)

M.B.E. London Gazette 7 June 1918.

M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1917.

George Wilson Duncan, who was born in January 1895, was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant into the Seaforth Highlanders direct from the Edinburgh University O.T.C. in September 1914, and witnessed active service out in France with the 8th Battalion prior to being invalided home with jaundice in January 1917. He was subsequently employed at the Ministry of National Service War in London and awarded the M.B.E.

Sold with original M.B.E. warrant in the name of ‘Captain George Wilson Duncan, M.C.’ (dated 3 June 1918); mention in despatches certificate in the name of ‘T./Lt. G. W. Duncan, Seaforth Highlanders’ (dated 30 April 1916); a War Office communication informing the recipient that he was allowed to retain the rank of Captain (dated 18 August 1919); several original photographs dating from the 1940s and 1950s, and assorted Second World War period newspapers and cuttings; together with his daughter’s Royal Observer Corps Certificate of War Service in the name of ‘Woman Observer Elizabeth Mary Baillie Duncan’, and her related cap and lapel badges, in addition to a W.V.S. Civil Defence lapel badge.