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Auction: 18003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 441

An interesting World War campaign service group of five awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Rankeillour, Scots Guards, who suffered the amputation of his left arm after being hit by a shell fragment in August 1918: he was subsequently employed as a senior officer in the Political Warfare Executive 1939-45

British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (2-Lieut. H. J. Hope); Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Coronation 1937, generally very fine (5)

Henry John Hope was born at Heron's Ghyle, Uckfield, Sussex on 20 January 1899, the son of James Fitzalan Hope, 1st Baron Rankeillour. Educated at the Oratory School, Edgbaston, he enlisted in the Artists' Rifles in the summer of 1917, when he was recorded as standing at 6ft. 3 inches.

He quickly obtained a commission - as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Scots Guards - and was embarked for France in the 1st Battalion in March 1918. During the severe fighting of August, he was seriously wounded on 23rd, his upper left arm being shattered by a shell fragment: it was amputated at the shoulder joint at a Casualty Clearing Station on the same day.

He was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 27 December 1918, refers) and relinquished his commission as a Lieutenant in April 1920.

Between the wars, Hope pursued a legal career, graduating in Law at Christ Church, Oxford and being called to the Bar in May 1925. He was the author of a handbook on the Education Act of 1936 and was awarded the Coronation Medal in the following year in his capacity as Barrister-at-Law, Middle Temple.

Recalled from the Emergency Reserve on the renewal of hostilities in September 1939, he was posted to Special Duties (Political Intelligence) at H.Q. London Area. From March 1943, in the acting rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, he served likewise at the Foreign Office, before taking up his final wartime appointment as Assistant Director in the Directorate of Political Warfare Intelligence in May 1944. He was demobilised in July 1945; for further details see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_Warfare_Executive

Hope subsequently served as Administrative Secretary to the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations (1949-57) and succeeded to his family title as Baron Rankeillour in May 1958. He was also a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory and a Bailiff Grand Cross of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. He died at Egham, Surrey in December 1967; a photograph of the recipient and his family, by Bassano, is held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.

Sold with the recipient's original M.I.D. certificate for Haig's despatch of 8 November 1918, in the name of 'Lt. H. J. Hope, (S.R.), attd. 1st Bn. Scots Guards'; together with copied research.


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Sold for
£320