Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A fine Great War C.M.G. group of nine awarded to Colonel T. Daly, Royal Army Medical Corps, who was among those lost in H.M. Transport Arcadian when that vessel was torpedoed in the Aegean in April 1917 - and went down in six minutes

The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, C.M.G., Companion’s neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels, in its Garrard, London case of issue; India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Hazara 1888 (Surgn., M.S.); India General Service 1895-1902, 1 clasp, Punjab Frontier 1897-98 (Major, R.A.M.C.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Transvaal, Wittebergen (Major, R.A.M.C.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Major, R.A.M.C.); 1914-15 Star (Lt. Col., R.A.M.C.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Col.); Delhi Durbar 1911, minor edge bruising in places, otherwise good very fine or better (9)
£1800-2200

C.M.G. London Gazette 1 January 1917.

Thomas Daly, who was born in January 1861, was educated in Dublin and took the L.R.C.S.I. and L.R.C.P.I. in 1882. Entering the army as a Surgeon in August 1885, he first witnessed active service in the Hazara expedition of 1888, when he was attached to the 2nd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders. Advanced to Surgeon Major in August 1897, he was next actively employed in the Punjab Frontier operations of 1897-98 and in South Africa 1899-1902, the latter period including his participation in the action at Bethlehem, in addition to other operations in Cape Colony and the Transvaal. Advanced to Lieutenant-Colonel in August 1905, Daly was one of 12 R.A.M.C. officers to be awarded the Delhi Durbar Medal in 1911.

He went to France in December 1914, was promoted to Colonel in March 1915, and was appointed an Assistant Director of Medical Services to a Division in June 1915. Mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 13 November 1916 refers) and awarded the C.M.G., Daly was latterly employed on the Salonika front. Then in April 1917 he received orders to take up a new appointment in Egypt and was embarked in the transport Arcadian. A Dictionary of Disasters at Sea takes up the story:

‘The liner Arcadian, Captain C. L. Willats, was taken over from the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company during the First World War and converted into a transport. On 15 April 1917, the ship with a company of 1335 troops and crew was proceeding from Salonika to Alexandria, and was in the southern Aegean, 26 miles N.E. of Milo. The troops had just completed boat-drill when a submarine approached unseen and discharged a torpedo which inflicted such extensive damage that the vessel sank in six minutes. Fortunately the men’s recent exercise at the boats imparted steadiness and confidence and 1058 were rescued, either through their own efforts or by the escorting destroyer.

The number drowned was 277 and, had it not been for the sudden capsizing of the vessel, many more would have been saved. Those lost included 19 army officers [Daly among them] and 214 other ranks, as well as ten naval ratings and 34 members of crew. A considerable amount of wreckage and spars was sucked down and this, coming to the surface with great force, killed many who were swimming in the water.’

Daly has no known grave and is commemorated on the Mikra Memorial.