Auction Catalogue

23 September 2005

Starting at 11:00 AM

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

Grand Connaught Rooms  61 - 65 Great Queen St  London  WC2B 5DA

Lot

№ 460

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23 September 2005

Hammer Price:
£1,900

The Baltic Medal to Major-General Sir Harry Ord, Royal Engineers, variously Governor of Dominica, Bermuda, Straits Settlements and South Australia

Baltic 1854-55
(Capt. & Bt.-Maj. H. S. G. Ord, Rl. Engineers), officially impressed naming, minor contact marks, good very fine £1500-2000

Harry St. George Ord was born at North Cray, Kent on 17 June 1819, the son of Captain Harry Gough Ord, Royal Artillery. Educated privately at Woolwich, he entered the Royal Military Academy in 1835.

He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1837 and promoted Lieutenant in 1839. The following year he was posted to the West Indies where he served for six years. Returning home in December 1845, he was promoted Captain in 1846. In December 1849 Ord was sent on special duty to the west coast of Africa and the island of Ascension. In January 1852 he was appointed Adjutant of the Royal Engineers at Chatham. He was appointed Brigade-Major under Brigadier-General H. D. Jones in the combined British/French expedition to the Baltic.

Ord was present at the siege and capture of Bomarsund and was mentioned in despatches, he also received the brevet of Major. In November 1855 Ord’s services were placed at the disposal of the Colonial Office and he was sent as a special commissioner to the Gold Coast and later assisted the British Minister at The Hague concerning French and Dutch possessions on the west coast of Africa. In September 1857 Ord was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the island of Dominica. Promoted Lieutenant-Colonel in 1859, his next appointment was as Governor of Bermuda , 1861-64. Receiving the brevet of Colonel in 1864, he was then sent to the west coast of Africa as a commissioner on special service in connection with disturbances with the Ashantis.

Returning to England in March 1865, he was awarded the C.B. in October the same year. He then resumed the government of Bermuda, finally leaving the island in November 1866. On 5 February 1867 Ord was appointed the first Colonial Governor of the Straits Settlements (Malaya and Singapore) and was made a Knight Bachelor. He remained in Singapore until late 1873, being promoted Major-General in April 1869. He was created a K.C.M.G. in May 1877, having in April of that year been appointed Governor of South Australia.

He retired from the colonial service in 1879 and in May 1881 he was created a G.C.M.G. He died on 20 August 1885.