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

An inter-war C.B.E., Great War Somme Battalion Commander’s D.S.O. group of eight awarded to Colonel C. H. Haig, Leicestershire Regiment

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Military) Commander’s 1st type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels; Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R.; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Talana, Defence of Ladysmith, Orange Free State, Transvaal (Capt., Leic. Regt.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Capt., Leic. Rgt.); 1914-15 Star (Major, Leic. R.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Lt. Col.); Defence Medal 1939-45, mounted court-style as worn (excepting the last), the C.B.E. with chipped enamel work, particularly to left arm, and the D.S.O. with a slightly chipped and loose/recessed obverse centre, the earlier awards with contact marks and edge bruising, otherwise generally very fine (8) £1800-2200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals to the Leicester Regiment and Yeomanry formed by the late Trevor Harris.

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C.B.E. London Gazette 3 June 1925.

D.S.O. London Gazette 1 January 1917.

Mention in despatches London Gazette 10 September 1901 (South Africa), 29 July 1902 (South Africa), 1 January 1916 and 1 January 1917.

Claude Henry Haig was born in January 1874 and was educated at Winchester and Sandhurst. Commissioned into the Leicestershire Regiment in March 1894, he was advanced to Lieutenant in July 1897.

Subsequently present in the early Natal operations of 1899, including the actions at Talana and Lombard’s Kop, in addition to the defence of Ladysmith, he was afterwards employed in the operations in the Orange River Colony, May 1901 to May 1902, in which latter month he was confirmed in the rank of Captain. Haig also served in Cape Colony from May to September 1901, was one-time attached to the Imperial Yeomanry and served as Adjutant of the Mounted Infantry. He was twice mentioned in despatches.

During the Great War, having been advanced to Major soon after the outbreak of hostilities, he went out to France in March 1915, served for a time on the Staff and was appointed to the command of the 9th (Service) Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment in the course of the same year. Accordingly he led that unit in the bloody assault against Bazentin-le-Petit Wood on 14 July 1916, and again in the attack near Gueudecourt on 25 September 1915. Specific mention of his deeds during the latter action may be found in Matthew Richardson’s The Tigers, the 6th, 7th, 8th & 9th (Service) Battalions of the Leicestershire Regiment:

‘At 2.35 p.m. the War Diary of the 9th Battalion summed up the situation on the right-hand portion of the battlefield thus:

Advance hung up on account of M.G. fire and rifle fire. Enemy still occupying Gird Trench on right of Sunken Road. Lieut. Col. Haig and Lieut. Tooth advanced to New Trench and finding it empty crossed over Goat Trench. Only dead and wounded were found in Goat Trench, accordingly Lieut. Col. Haig, in anticipation that the front two companies had reached Gird Trench, advanced to Pilgrim’s Way where 40 O.R. of the 8th Leic. Regt. were found without an officer. Lieut. Col. Haig decided to remain and hold on with 40 until reinforcements arrived to clear Gird Trench on right.

Haig and Tooth had gone over the top with the fourth wave of their battalion. Sometime after reaching Pilgrim’s Way, Haig was hit in the hand, but elected to remain with the men until the following day, when he was relieved by Captain P.E. Bent.’

Haig was awarded the D.S.O., almost certainly as a result of this latter action, and had also accrued a brace of “mentions” before the War’s end.

He assumed command of the 2nd Battalion of the regiment at Delhi in 1922, and afterwards served in the Sudan, where, in 1924, at Khartoum, the 11th Sudanese Battalion mutinied and attacked the Leicestershires in their barracks. Thanks largely to Haig’s cool and effective way of dealing with the situation, the mutiny was soon suppressed, and for his services on this occasion he was advanced to full Colonel and awarded the C.B.E. He was placed on the Retired List two years later.

In the 1939-45 War, Haig joined the Home Guard and served on the Staff at Dorchester. While there he had a bad fall and fractured his thigh, and when he was evacuated from his hospital bed during an enemy air raid, the rapidly mending bone was again fractured, as a result of which he was considerably handicapped in his latter years. Nonetheless, he remained a fearless rider to hounds and a keen shot.

The Colonel, who died at his residence near Halesworth, Suffolk in 1956, aged 81 years, was described by his regimental obituarist as a ‘lovable character ... fearless and outspoken’, and a ‘really fine soldier and outstanding C.O.’, who was blessed with a ‘keen sense of humour’.