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Auction: 15003 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals and Militaria
Lot: 78

The 1936 'River Hoogly' George Cross (Empire Gallantry Medal exchange) to Assistant River Surveyor C.F. Kelly, Port Commissioners, Calcutta, For His Bravery and Skill in Piloting a Barge Full of Defective Dynamite, For Nearly 18 Hours Non-Stop, Whilst it was Dangerously Leaking Nitro-Glycerine
George Cross (Cecil Francis Kelly, Asst. River Surveyor, Calcutta, 1st. February, 1937.), contact marks to tips of cross, very fine, with the following related items:
- Letter to the recipient from Government House, Calcutta, accompanying the recipient's George Cross, dated 17.2.1942, this glazed and framed
- Government of Bengal Investiture Letter for the Empire Gallantry Medal
- Various letters of congratulations to the recipient on the award of the Empire Gallantry Medal
- Various newspaper cuttings and other documents
- Photographic image of the recipient

E.G.M. London Gazette 1.2.1937 Cecil Francis Kelly, Assistant River Surveyor Port Commissioners, Calcutta, Bengal (in a joint citation with George John Adamson, Inspector, River Traffic Police, Calcutta, Bengal)
'In May last, Inspector Adamson, with Mr. Kelly as pilot, was in charge of two Port Police launches escorting a cargo of defective dynamite which was being taken for destruction up the river Hooghly in a barge in tow of a launch. The barge proved quite unseaworthy, and after a journey of about 15 miles up the river was in a sinking condition. Inspector Adamson and his assistants had no responsibility except for escorting the cargo, but in spite of this they tried at great personal risk to keep the barge afloat by bailing from 7 o'clock in the evening till midnight, when it was found necessary to beach the barge on the bank near a large jute mill. In spite of the dynamite exuding nitroglycerine, Inspector Adamson with two sergeants worked indefatigably in the water and in the dark to help guide the barge ashore by hand. The beaching took five and a half hours. The barge was partially unloaded, but it was found impossible to remove the 2 tons at the bottom owing to its dangerous condition, and the barge had to be re-floated, towed into deep water, and sunk. Inspector Adamson rendered great assistance during the whole operation, and stood by in a police launch in spite of grave danger. Mr. Kelly supervised the handling of the barge throughout, and without his skilled assistance the feat could not have been accomplished. A small accident such as the striking of a bootsole nail on a stone in the river bank, the "working" of the hull of the barge when she was subsequently towed off, or a slip with any of the gear used, would have resulted in practically certain death to those working, and a disaster of the first magnitude to the surrounding mills. Though it was not his duty as pilot, Mr. Kelly remained in the barge while it was towed off the beach and until it was safely sunk, superintending its handling in the current by the aid of two launches. Both men displayed cool, deliberate, and sustained gallantry for many hours under conditions, of the greatest strain.'

Major Cecil Francis Ulysses Kelly, G.C., born India, 2.11.1900; employed as an Assistant River Surveyor by the Port Commissioners, Calcutta; awarded the Empire Gallantry Medal for his bravery on the River Hooghly, 6.5.1936, and presented with his Medal by the Governor of Bengal, Calcutta, 17.11.1937; advanced Deputy River Surveyor; received the George Cross in exchange for the Empire Gallantry Medal, Calcutta, 17.2.1942; served during the Second War in the D of I Corps; retired with the rank of Major, 20.7.1946; died, Calcutta, 23.11.1948, and is buried in Calcutta Catholic Cemetery.

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Sold for
£8,500