The Jack Webb Collection of Medals and Militaria

The important Q.S.A. group of four awarded to General Sir W. Henry Mackinnon, G.C.B., K.C.V.O., who served as Colonel Commandant of the City of London Imperial Volunteers in South Africa during the Boer War

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill (Maj. Genl. W. H. Mackinnon. C. of L.I.V.); Jubilee 1897, silver; Coronation 1902, silver; Coronation 1911, silver, mounted court-style as worn, good very fine and an important group to the C.I.V. (4) £1,400-£1,800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Jack Webb Collection of Medals and Militaria.

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G.C.B. London Gazette 3 June 1916.

K.C.B. London Gazette 26 July 1908.

C.B. London Gazette 19 April 1901.

K.C.V.O. London Gazette 21 July 1911:
‘On the occasion of His Majesty’s visit to Wales.’

C.V.O. London Gazette 22 August 1902.

William Henry Mackinnon was born on 15 December 1852, the son of William Alexander Mackinnon, 34th Chief of Clan Fingon and was educated at Harrow School. Commissioned Ensign and Lieutenant, by purchase, into the Grenadier Guards in 1870, he was advanced Lieutenant and Captain 1872, and in 1884 appointed Assistant Military Secretary to General Sir J. L. A. Simmons, Royal Engineers, commanding the troops in Malta and then Private Secretary to the Governor of Madras in India in 1885-87. He was promoted Colonel, on the Staff, and appointed Assistant Adjutant-General at Home District in 1893 and was serving as Assistant Adjutant-General 1st Infantry Division (Division of Guards) in 1898.

Appointed Colonel Commandant of the City of London Imperial Volunteers on 22 December 1899, Mackinnon led this Corps in South Africa until it was disbanded in November 1900, commanding the troops at Orange River. He was also present at the operations in the Orange Free State in May 1900, including the action at Zand River; at the operations in the Transvaal in May and June 1900, including the actions near Johannesburg, Pretoria and Diamond Hill (11 and 12 June); and the operations in the Transvaal west of Pretoria in August 1900. For his meritorious services during the campaign in South Africa he was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 16 April 1901).

Mackinnon was invested as a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1902 and later appointed Director of Auxiliary Forces in 1905, Director-General of the Territorial Force in 1908 and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Western Command in 1910. He retired in 1916.

Sold together with two books: Journal of the C.I.V. in South Africa by Major-General W. H. Mackinnon, C.B., with armorial bookplate of Sir Alfred J. Newton, Bart. Governor of the Honourable the Irish Society and containing loose photograph of C.I.V. troops embarking, 24cm x 18cm, the reverse inscribed in Mackinnon’s hand ‘Embarkation at Southampton 1900 of the C.I.V.’; Standing Orders for the Brigade of Guards, 1894, this being Mackinnon’s personal copy containing many annotations and signed inside the front end leaf ‘W. H. Mackinnon, Received and Paid for 7.5.94’