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Auction: 21103 - Orders, Decorations and Medals e-Auction 4
Lot: 30

Queen's South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Transvaal, South Africa 1902 (14907 2nd Cpl: F. E. Ostler. A.S.C.), very fine

[M.B.E.] London Gazette 1 June 1919.

Francis Edward Ostler was born at Grantham, Lincolnshire in 1883 and served in South Africa during the Boer War with the Army Service Corps.

In 1911 Major H. O. Knox, a veteran of the war in South Africa, was appointed first Director of Supply and Transport, New Zealand Army Service Corps with the purpose of creating that unit. In 1912 he asked the British Army for four experienced Warrant Officers to assist. Apparently the opportunity attracted 'hundreds of applicants' including Ostler who, although recently married, was not deterred by the 'single men only' requirement. The other three selected were Quarter-Master Sergeant J. J. Wass, Squadron Sergeant-Major J. W. F. Cahill and Squadron Quarter-Master Sergeant P. N. Petty. Only Wass was not a veteran of the Anglo-Boer War.

The four men were split up, Ostler was posted to Wellington and in 1914 was living at 59 Hawker St.

Their first job was to organise transport and supplies for the 1913 Easter Camps. These were hailed a great success, next the men set about creating the first companies of the New Zealand Army Service Corps, by the outbreak of the Great War the foundations were firmly in place.

Ostler stayed on in New Zealand and in August 1915 the British Government agreed to continue the loan of Ostler and Petty. In October 1916 Ostler was promoted to Director of Supplies and Transport with the rank of Captain. It was not until August 1918 that he was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the British Army (BWM only). He died in Surrey in 1953; see Salute to Service: A History of the Royal New Zealand Corps of Transport, Julia Millen, Wellington 1997, for further details.


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Sold for
£320

Starting price
£50