Orders, Decorations and Medals

Three: Surgeon Major-General R. Lewer, Army Medical Department, late Royal Navy

Baltic 1854-55, unnamed as issued; Afghanistan 1878-80, 2 clasps, Kabul, Kandahar (Surgn. Maj., 9th Lancers); Kabul to Kandahar Star 1880 (Surgn. Major, 9th Lancers) minor edge bruising and contact marks, very fine; unusual combination (3) £1200-1500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals to the Medical Services formed by Colonel D.G.B. Riddick.

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Robert Lewer was born in Wimborne, Dorset on 3 October 1835. He served in the Royal Navy as a Hospital Dresser during the war with Russia, 1855, and was present at the bombardment of Sveaborg. Appointed an Assistant Staff Surgeon in the Army Medical Department on 1 August 1857, he then served with the Royal Artillery. Promoted to Staff Surgeon on 6 September 1871 and thence Surgeon-Major with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1873, he served in the Afghan War of 1878-80, in medical charge of the 9th Lancers and as Sanitary Officer to the Kabul Field Force. He was present in the operations around Kabul in December 1879, including the investment of Sherpore and was present on the march from Kabul to Kandahar. For his services he was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 3 December 1880). In 1882 he was ranked as a Brigade Surgeon with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, was appointed Surgeon Colonel in October 1886, and in October 1889 became Deputy Surgeon-General and Principal Medical Officer for Hong Kong. Lewer attained the rank of Surgeon Major-General on 10 August 1892 and retired from the service in 1895. He died at Southsea on 29 May 1914.