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Auction: 16001 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals and Militaria
Lot: 145

A Particularly Fine and Complete Great War 1915 'Battle of Festubert' D.S.O. Group of Five to Lieutenant-Colonel E.A. Steel, Royal Artillery, Twice Mentioned in Despatches For Services as Trenchard's Staff Officer During the Expeditions in Southern Nigeria, 1904-06; He Commanded A Battery with Distinction on the Western Front, and Was Twice Seriously Wounded, Including Being Shot Through the Lung Whilst on the Somme. Despite Being Continually Troubled By His Wounds and the Residual Effects of Blackwater Fever Contracted During His Service in Africa, He Went on to Serve in Mesopotamia, Before Volunteering For Service in Russia During the Allied Intervention, 1919. Steel Finally Succumbed To The Severity of His Wounds When He Died of Influenza, 17.10.1919
a) Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, minor green enamel damage, with integral top riband bar, this lacking reverse pin
b) Africa General Service 1902-56, E.VII.R, two clasps, S. Nigeria 1904-05, S. Nigeria 1905-06, clasps loose on riband, last a contemporary tailor's copy (Lieut. E.A. Steel. S.N. Regt), surname partially officially corrected
c) 1914 Star, with Bar (Capt. E.A. Steel. R.F.A.)
d) British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oak Leaves (Major E.A. Steel.), generally good very fine, with the recipient's Great War Bronze Memorial Plaque 'Edward Anthony Steel', and Parchment Memorial Scroll, the latter mounted on card, and the following related items:
- Miniature A.G.S. mounted for wear by Spink, London
- Portrait photograph of recipient in uniform
- A Memoir Of Lt.-Col. Edward Anthony Steel, D.S.O. R.H.A. And R.F.A. 1880-1919, Consisting Chiefly Of His Letters And Diaries With Numerous Illustrations, Compiled By His Father Colonel J.P. Steel, published by Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd, 1921
- A reprinted Insert from The Times, dated 24.10.1919, when it reported the death of the recipient
- Two Annotated Royal Artillery Memorial Cards (lot)

D.S.O. London Gazette 23.6.1915 Edward Anthony Steel, Major, Royal Field Artillery

Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Anthony Steel, D.S.O., (1880-1919), was born in Ajmere, India. He was the son of Colonel J.P. Steel, Royal Engineers, of 31 Nevern Square, London. E.A. Steel was educated at Dover College, where he was Captain of Hockey, and at RMA Woolwich. He was commissioned in the Royal Artillery, 6.1.1900. He advanced to Lieutenant the following year, and served with the Royal Horse Artillery in India, 1901-1904.

Steel changed continent at the end of 1904, and was attached to the West African Frontier Force for service in Nigeria. He served as Major H.M. Trenchard's (later 1st Viscount Trenchard) Staff Officer for the expedition through the unsettled portion of the Ibibio and Kwa country, 15.11.1904-27.2.1905, 'I've been lucky enough to drop into this billet as Artillery Officer and Staff Officer to Major Trenchard Commanding No. 2 Column, and we leave the day after tomorrow and don't get back till April... This morning [26.12.1904] I was off at 3am on a reconnaissance with a column of my own and got back at 2pm. We all move off tomorrow for a five days' show without camping. I got to within 3m. of Aka this morning, which is our destination. We have only had one man killed so far and one Sergeant wounded. I am very fit; being Senior Subaltern I get 3 Sections and a Mission. I think I ought to get through, but of course in the Bush you never know who is going to get it next.' (A Memoir Of Lt.-Col. Edward Anthony Steel, D.S.O., refers)

Steel served with Trenchard again, this time in the expedition in the Bende-Onitsha hinterland, 1905-06, as his letter to his parents, dated 20.9.1905 states, 'Trenchard and others arrived last boat. He is in great form, and at last something is being done. He has asked me to stay out here and come as his Staff Officer on the next operations, which begin in November. He will be in Supreme Command with four or five other columns under him, so instead of leaving here next month when my year's up I am going to stay till April or May next...' (ibid)

A letter from Calabar, 2.11.1905, adds the following, 'All our arrangements stand at present and we start off November 13 from here. We have just sent reinforcements round to the Niger as the Kwali country is "up," and three Officers have just been badly wounded there. It was in Reuter's telegram about ten days ago.'

Steel was Mentioned in Despatches for both expeditions (London Gazette 23.2.1906 and 18.9.1906), and Trenchard wrote the following (in 1919) about his service, 'He was my Staff Officer and he was a great man and the most energetic I have ever seen, I think, and he was really the backbone of the expedition on which we were together.'

After nearly a year back in the UK, Steel returned to Lagos in February 1907, 'I am very busy, and the climate is sweltering. I haven't really slept since I arrived. You lie surrounded by mosquito nets in a sort of pool of perspiration, until from sheer weakness you slide into a state of lethargy and welcome the dawn to get up and have a bath.' By July he had contracted Blackwater Fever, and was critical for several weeks.

Steel returned to the UK for a period of convalescence. In March 1908 he read a paper before the Royal Geographical Society on 'Exploration in Southern Nigeria.' The latter was based upon his findings and exploration during the expeditions under Trenchard, he used his photographs as illustrations. The following month he was promoted Captain. Steel passed the Ordnance College examinations in 1909, and subsequently studied at the London School of Economics.

Between 6.1.1912-4.8.1914 Steel was employed as a British Commissioner on the Rhodesian-Congo (Anglo-Belgian) Boundary Commission. The Chief British Commissioner was originally Major R.A. Gillam, but it would appear that Steel was very much the most active commissioner in the field, and when Gillam was forced to return home due to poor health Steel was appointed Chief British Commissioner (1913). He carried on with his work of delimiting the frontier between Northern Rhodesia and the Belgian Congo before returning to the UK in July 1914.

Steel was about to embark on leave, when war broke out and he reported to the War Office. On the 20th August he was directed to travel to Southampton, and from there proceed as part of the reinforcements for the Expeditionary Force. He arrived in France at the end of August, and was posted to the 35th Battery, 37th Brigade, R.F.A., in September 1914. Steel served with the Battery as part of the 4th Division, and was in the thick of it, '26.10.1914. I have just returned from burying a bombardier of ours killed this morning during a little attention we received from a "Jack Johnson" Battery. Yesterday they put a Heavy Battery alongside us out of action, blowing up an ammunition waggon, and today they found us. The first shell, a 6 inch - pretty useful - cut the telephone wire to the Battery Commander observing in front, and so rendered us useless temporarily. Everybody crept into their holes alongside the guns, except a bombardier operator who went out to mend the wire and was unfortunately hit by a large fragment.'

Steel was promoted Major, 30.10.1914, as a consequence of 'Whilst on this last trip north my old Colonel, who was Major at Ewshot in 1900 with me, selected me for a special job that wanted doing urgently. I had to work within 200 yards of the German trenches, and I was at it a week, being missed by yards only most of the day by shells, etc., and as a result have heard from the General R.A. that he sent up my name to the Divisional for "Distinguished service in the field." '

The 35th Battery took part in the battles of Neuve Chappelle (10th-13th March 1915) and Festubert (15th-25th May 1915). At the latter Steel, 'had rather a hot time. I had a fine Observing Station in a ruined Brewery 100 yards behind our trenches, and was able to put my shells anywhere I liked, and the Infantry ought to have got La Bassée, but! (the attack failed), and we have only just got a bit. I got hit by some pieces of shrapnel in the morning whilst mending a telephone wire, and in the evening another one burst at the feet of two of my best men I have always in front with me to go on dangerous errands, blew them to pieces, whilst my Subaltern got a couple of holes bored in him, and I got a piece or so in the face which has made me feel rather as if I had been in a prize fight. My Subaltern has been sent home, but I shall be all right, I hope, in a day or two. At Fromelles I got a bullet through my hat, and it just touched my head as it went through, so I can't have anything much nearer.'

It was for the action at Festubert that Steel was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Steel returned to the UK in October 1915. He was posted to train new Batteries at Tidworth Camp and Codford. He trained B/182 (Fulham) Brigade, R.F.A., and eventually joined them (after a period of illness) in France at the start of April 1916. He served with his Battery in positions at Loos the following month, 'Since my last we have been through two gas attacks and many casualties have resulted. The "weeping" shells, too, with which the Battery was plastered, were a great trial. However, the men did splendidly, and the shooting was excellent. We had a direct hit in one of our gunpits, but only the gun was knocked out.... Last night we had a terrific bombardment - all about nothing - and as usual our corner was plastered, and I can hardly open my eyes. It's perfectly disgusting, these asphyxiating and weeping shells.'

In August 1916 Steel was hospitalised with rheumatic fever, his original foreign service continued to catch up with him. He returned for active duty as Battery Commander of B/177 Brigade at the start of September. The Battery served on the Somme, and it was not very long before Steel was hospitalised once again. On the 15th September there was a British offensive from their positions south of Ancre, 'An inquiry as to how Major Steel was wounded elicited the fact that he had gone on with the Infantry in order to keep in touch with them and prevent any such contretemps as already referred to resulting from the 'barrage', and also to select, if possible, an observing station in an advanced post where he could render them assistance if required... The first report, about September 16, 1916, of Major Steel having been wounded was a postcard received from Sister W. Tice, i/c: 'Major E.A. Steel has been wounded in the chest and shoulders and is extremely ill. The surgeons are doing all they can, but are very anxious about his condition in the next few days.'

After time at No. 8 General Hospital, Rouen, Steel was returned to London for further treatment, 'it soon became evident that... his wounds were serious. True, his arm might be saved, but never to be a sound arm, and the wound in his chest turned out to be a penetration of the lung by a splinter which caused an abscess, and for a long time defied treatment, until under an operation a splinter was extracted.'

Steel was moved to No. 129 Convalescent Hospital, Brighton, in March 1917. In June he was sufficiently recovered from his wounds in order to read another paper (this time on the Zambezi-Congo watershed) before the Royal Geographical Society. He underwent several more operations including one to try and recover the use of a nerve which prevented the use of the fingers on his wounded arm. Steel reported fit for light duty in April 1918. He was posted to the School of Instruction in Anti-Aircraft Gunnery on the Isle of Wight.

In September he was finally passed fit for general service, and was posted to Mesopotamia. Upon arrival Steel was appointed Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel, Officer Commanding 55th Brigade, R.F.A., 13th Division. With the advent of the Armistice demobilisation was looming, and is 'one of the causes why Major Steel went to Russia. His Brigade was to march down to Amara, being depleted, according to orders then existing, of all his best men, and he said by the time he arrived at Basra he would have only the skeleton of a Brigade left. He might, no doubt, have brought his Brigade home, retained his temporary rank of Lt.-Col., and sat down quietly until the demobilisation was complete, but this he could not do. When the call for volunteers for Russia came, though he had to give up his temporary rank, he volunteered. It would scarcely be fair to ascribe his decision to volunteer for service in Russia entirely to the foregoing cause; owing to his long disability, in consequence of his wounds, he had been passed over by his contemporaries who had received promotion and decorations, and undoubtedly he felt this, and was anxious to find an opportunity to recover his position and gain distinction by further service. Moreover, his chivalry was awakened by that call of Russia for help.'

In January 1919 Steel 'received a wire after some days out that I was appointed to join a batch of officers proceeding to Vladivostok to train Czechs and Slovaks against the Bolsheviks, so, though I had some difficulty in passing my medical exam., I think it will suit me. I find now the heat affects me more than the cold.'

On the 16th April 1919 Steel arrived in Vladivostok. Twelve days later he moved to Novo Nikolaevsk, 'I feel very lost out here. The Russians seem incapable of doing anything. Everything is, "Nevermind, it doesn't matter." We call it the "Land of Tomorrow." They never do anything today as tomorrow they may not have to. It is impossible to describe the situation here. I am off to Barnaul [4.5.1919], which is 150 miles due south of Novo Nikolaevsk, which is situated where the Trans-Siberian Railway crosses the Ob River... Barnaul is to be the Artillery Training Centre of the 13th and 14th Russian Divisions which I am going to start off. At present they only exist on paper, I believe! So they will want a lot of gingering up. They think they are going to train them in two months with our guns which are now arriving only - so I am sorry for the Infantry... If they mean business here, I shall see it through to the end unless the War Office sends for me to finish the Boundary Commission.'

On the 15th June, 'orders are awaiting me [Steel] here to proceed to take over a new command at Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains on the Bolshevik front, where I am going to form a sort of Anglo-Russian Brigade of Artillery - 2 batt. 18-pounders and 2 batt. 4.5 howitzers... These Russians are quite incapable of making any effort to regain their country, and I believe would do nothing if it was not for us... Every week there is a station destroyed along the line or some damage done, and if it were not for the Czechs, we should be in a bad way out here... And really one never knows when the whole show is going bust, and I'm sure the British Government will not lend us much longer to the Russians unless they do something, and half the summer has gone. It is beginning to get hot and dusty; spring has come and gone, and my lung will not improve swallowing mouthfuls of dust, so the move is lucky for me besides being a command after my own heart.'

Steel arrived in Yekaterinburg on the 6th July 1919. A day later orders were received to evacuate in the face of the advancing Bolsheviks, 'This state of affairs is rotten. Everybody is very disappointed at having to retire, but British officers are not allowed to go into action. The departure of the Hants Regiment from here has been the signal for a general exodus, and a stream of carts pours down to the station all day and night... Only half a dozen of us are here. I am senior, and there are others doing liaison at the Russian School. I am awaiting my trains with Artillery stores that left Omsk before they could be stopped, and of course to be in here at the death.'

Steel was caught up in the increasing chaos of the following weeks, and on the 2nd August wrote, 'the whole Siberian army has disappeared for the time being. On arrival at Omsk I was just going off to Kurgan and Chelyabinsk when news came that the latter place had also been evacuated. It is going to be difficult to get out of this country for everyone, and things are in a critical state... I am taking my Brigade some miles down the Irtish, fifty miles north of Omsk, so as to intercept any Bolshevik attack on Omsk by Reds from Tyumen, which they will enter in a few days. Some big decisions will have to be made now, one way or another. I will be glad to get out of this town, as the dust everywhere seems to get down into my lung. It will take me till the end of September to train this lot, so I cannot be home till Xmas, but may have to see the winter through.'

On the 24th August 1919, Steel wrote to his parents with ever worsening news, and his health beginning to fail him a matter of weeks later, 'I am afraid I have not got good news for you (my hand hurts too much to work a pen). As you will have realised, the Russian Army has become a demoralised mass and nobody knows where it is exactly. It is no use hiding things. They have retreated before the Bolshevik Army from Perm to nearly Petropavlovsk, 250 versts west of Omsk, for no reason at all. The Bolsheviki are advancing just in small handfuls... and of course if they take Omsk the whole country from Irkutsk westwards will rise in revolution and we shall have some difficulty in getting out at all. There is a small revolution going on at Barnaul and Bisk, and some friends of mine there are wiring for help. Most that can have cleared out, some into Mongolia and others towards Vladivostok, leaving all behind. With winter coming, now beginning, and the whole country fleeing before the Reds, I can only leave to your imagination the prospects if Omsk, the seat of the government, falls. No one is to be trusted. All the English soldiers have gone and half the Mission. Everything has been thrown into the battle that is to be fought in the next few days. If successful, there is no reason why the Russian Army should not return to Perm as quickly as it has retreated. That is the way with these semi-civilised people. But if it fails and the army come flying back into Omsk then it will be a case of Sauve qui peut. If the railway is blown up behind us we shall have to fight it out. Anyway I and four of my officers are training this Brigade of Russian Artillery... but of course they can't be ready for four weeks... My Brigade will retire and continue its training, and we have volunteered to stay until they succeed... Don't be alarmed, it adds to the fun to know the Bolshevik Commander has put a price of 25,000 roubles on any British officer's head.'

On the 14th October Colonel J.P. Steel received a telegram from the American Red Cross Hospital at Omsk informing him that his son had taken seriously ill with influenza. Ten days later his death and burial was announced in The Times.

General Alfred Knox wrote to Steel's mother, 24.10.1919, 'I wish to express to you my deep sympathy, and the sympathy of every member of my Mission, in the terrible loss you and your husband have sustained on the death of your son, Colonel Edward A. Steel... I first met him on visiting Barnaul on June 12. He had a very uphill task in trying to get the Russian officers to work up to British Artillery standards, but he never lost heart.

In July I transferred him to Omsk to take charge of the formation of two batteries of British 18 pounders and 2 batteries of British 4.5 howitzers that were to be raised here as part of the "Model Jaeger Brigade," the nearest approach to regular troops that the Omsk Government possesses...The personnel of the batteries was Russian, but your son had six British Artillery officers and a number of British sergeants to help him. He gave himself heart and soul to the work, and any efficiency that these four batteries have attained is due to his self-sacrificing devotion to duty. The Russian officer is a pleasant companion if not asked to work, but sometimes difficult if pushed. Your son from the first won their respect, and, I am confident, towards the end, their affection.

He got a feverish cold early in the month... I rode out to see him the next day; his cough was troubling him much. He grew gradually weaker, and though he had every attention from the personnel of the Hospital he died at 5am on Friday 17th. The doctor ascribes the fatal result of the illness to his having been shot through the lung. He was with him at the end, and told me he passed away without suffering at the last.

Sunday, the 19th, the day of the funeral, was a wonderfully bright and warm day. The coffin, covered with the Union Jack, was brought from the Hospital on a gun carriage to an open space opposite the Cathedral in the centre of town. There the procession was formed. Representatives from every unit in the Garrison took part - Admiral Koltchak's Personal Escort, the 43rd Siberian Infantry Regiment, a squadron of Siberian Cossacks, a complete Jaeger Battalion, and immediately in front of the coffin the four batteries. The pall-bearers were three British Artillery officers with reversed swords on the right - Captains Faber and Hodges and Major Cameron - and three Russian officers on the left with drawn swords... The mourners included all officers of the British Military Mission in Omsk, and practically everyone of any importance in the official world, including Commander-in-Chief, General Dietrikhs, with many of his staff, a General representing the Supreme Ruler, the President of the Council of Ministers, and General Janin, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces in Western Siberia. The coffin was covered with wreaths, including one from the Mission, from Admiral Koltchak, General Dietrikhs, and all the Military Missions in Siberia. Just as the cortège was about to move off, a little girl of twelve brought a wreath and placed it on the coffin. We learned afterwards that she was a refugee whose family your son had helped.

We walked the two miles to the cemetery slowly through crowds that uncovered as the coffin passed. At the entrance to the cemetery the troops drew up and presented arms as the gun-carriage halted and the coffin was carried to the grave by the pall-bearers. The Service was read by the British Consul, Mr. Hodgson, the volleys fired, and the Last Post sounded.

Your son's body lies in a small railed-off space with the graves of two British soldiers on either side. We are arranging about a monument, and if possible would like to get a plain white marble cross.'

Knox also enclosed, with his letter, letters of condolence and praise for Steel from General Dietrikhs, the Officers of the Model Jaeger Brigade and a translation of the Notice placed in the Russian Press.

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