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

A Great War M.C. group of three to Reverend C. G. Swann, Army Chaplains Department

Military Cross, G.V.R., reverse engraved, ‘C. Graham Swann, C.F., Buckingham Palace Dec. 19th 1917’; British War and Victory Medals (Rev.), last officially renamed, good very fine and better (3) £450-550

M.C. London Gazette 26 September 1917. ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty under heavy shell fire. His fearlessness and devotion in bringing in and attending to the wounded under intense shell fire were magnificent. He dug out men who had been buried, and was thus the means of saving many lives and throughout the day his utter disregard for personal safety deserved the highest praise’.

Charles Graham Swann gained a B.A. at Queen’s College, Oxford in 1901. Attending the Leeds Clerical School in 1901, he was ordained a Deacon in 1902 and Priest in 1904. He was appointed a Curate at St. Mary’s, Beverley, East Yorkshire, 1902-06, in the latter year gaining a M.A. His next appointment was as a Curate in Brighton, 1906-08 followed by an overseas appointment as Acting Chaplain of St. John the Evangelist at Smyrna, 1908-09. Returning home he was then Curate of St. Matthew’s at Chapel Allerton, Yorkshire, 1909-11. He was then appointed Vicar of St. Jude’s, Manningham in 1911, a position he held until 1923. This appointment was interrupted by his war service, being appointed Chaplain to the Forces 4th Class on 6 February 1917. Later in the year, in France/Flanders, he won the Military Cross and received the same at an investiture at Buckingham Palace on 19 December 1917. Swann was appointed a Licensed Preacher in the Dioceses of London Southwark and St. Albans, 1923-24, before becoming Rector of Stanwick during 1924-26. He then became Vicar of Chedworth, Gloucestershire, 1926-32 and Rural Dean of Northleach, 1929-32. His last appointments were as Rector of Norton-sub-Hamdon, Somerset, 1932-34 and Vicar of Puriton in the Diocese of Bath and Wells, 1934-41. He retired in the latter year.

Sold with a cutting from The Times of 15 January 1918 announcing the award of the Military Cross and some copied research.