Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An interesting group of four awarded to Lieutenant Colonel W. V. Moul, Cheshire Regiment, who served as Assistant Provost Marshal in Dublin during the 1916 Irish Rebellion and was responsible for escorting Sir Roger Casement to London for trial - Casement was subsequently sentenced to death for treason and it is recorded that before his execution ‘he gave his bejewelled personal pistol to Col. Moul’

India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Burma 1887-89 (Lt. W. V. Moul 2d Bn Ches. R.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Johannesburg (Major. W. V. Moul, Ches: Regt); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps (Maj. W. V. Moul. Ches. Rgt.); Coronation 1911, unnamed as issued; together with corresponding dress miniatures, first with slightly slack suspension, some contact wear and edge bruising overall, therefore generally about nearly very fine (8) £1800-2200

Despatches twice London Gazette 10 September 1901 and 30 March 1917.

Lieutenant Colonel William Vincent Moul was born in Kensington, London in 1865 and educated at Harrow and Sandhurst. He passed out with ‘honours’, 7th from RMC ‘Order of Merit’, in July 1886, joined the Cheshire Regiment in August 1886, and served with the 2nd Battalion in Burma 1887-89, acting as Intelligence Officer with a Column sent to protect the jade mines north of Bhamo on the Irrawaddy. He was Adjutant Captain with the 2nd Battalion in South Africa 1900-01, including actions at Karee Siding, Vet River (5 and 6 May 1900) and Zand River and served as Assistant Provost Marshal and Assistant Press Censor, Potchefstroom from May 1901 (Brevet of Major and Mention in Despatches London Gazette 10 September 1901). He returned to the 2nd Battalion and was in the East Indies from September 1904 until his retirement in October 1906. Moul resumed service with the 3rd Battalion Cheshire Regiment and as Second in Command was at the Coronation 1911, (only 5 men of 3rd Battalion were awarded the medal). In September 1914, Brevet Major Moul was given a special appointment on the General Staff.

In 1916, Moul was employed as an Assistant Provost Marshal, in command of Dublin District and was involved in the Court Martial of 2nd Lieutenant H.M. Doyle, Yorkshire Regiment in April 1916. Official sources note that Moul was also involved as witness and in official capacities including the court martials of Joseph Gahan (deported after the Rebellion), James J Dunne (McDonough’s Company, Irish National Volunteers, imprisoned in Mountjoy Jail), Philip J McMahon (detained and sent to Belfast for trial), an untried case against Michael McCormac involving 36 Boy Scouts parading in military formation, some wearing Sinn Fein badges), etc.

During the Easter Rising, following the notorious gun-running incident involving the German Auxiliary Cruiser Aud, resulting in the capture of Sir Roger Casement , Moul was instructed to bring Casement back to London for trial (Mentioned in Despatches, London Gazette 30th March 1917). Before his execution, Casement is reported in the press as having given Moul his ´bejewelled personal pistol´, which Moul later displayed amongst other service relics at his home in East Looe, Cornwall (see newspaper obituary). In retirement, Lieutenant Colonel Moul was for several years the Honorary Secretary of the RNLI Station at Looe and died at Shutta House, East Looe in 1951.

Sold with a large, original ledger containing a hand-written diary of events in South Africa, December 1899 to May 1900, including mentions of individuals of the regiment and a fairly detailed account and hand-drawn ‘map’ of the positions and action at Karee Siding on 29 March 1900. The back of the ledger notes expenses for various regimental expenditures noting individuals and claims. Also included are some original newspaper clippings; a group photograph including Moul and a detailed obituary.

See lot 36 for the awards to Lieutenant W.H.A. Bee, RNR, DSC and details of the action resulting in the capture of Sir Roger Casement and the sinking of the SS Aud.