Orders, Decorations and Medals

An unusual B.E.M. group of four awarded to Mr C. E. Thurgood, Premises Officer for B.O.A.C. at London Airport, formerly a member of the Shanghai Municipal Police

British Empire Medal (Civil) E.II.R. (Charles Ernest Thurgood); China, Hupei Province, 3rd Anniversary Medal, silver and enamel, the reverse with maker’s cartouche, with top suspension brooch; China, National Revolutionary Army Commemorative Medal, Northern Expedition, gilt and enamel, the reverse with Chinese characters, probably a departmental award; Soochow Creek Medal 1932, (Presented to C. E. Thurgood for Bravery and Valor Battle of Soochow Creek, Shanghai 1932) name engraved, otherwise struck as issued, the first extremely fine, otherwise very fine (4) £400-500

B.E.M. London Gazette 1 January 1960: ‘Charles Ernest Thurgood, Premises Officer, London Airport, British Overseas Airways Corporation.

Charles Ernest Thurgood was born in Hertfordshire on 1 October 1897. He was apprenticed during 1914-16 but subsequently joined up and served with the Sherwood Forresters 1916-18. After the war he served with the Shanghai Municiapl Police from 1919 until 1935.

The award document for Thurgood’s Soochow Creek Medal, dated 19 May 1932, was sold in America by Floyd Johnson Payne. This was a satirical medal created by members of the U.S. 4th Marines as an ironic comment on the nature of their service as part of the Shanghai Defence Force.