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Auction: 23001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 80

Pair: Lieutenant-Colonel Sir A. R. T. Maxwell-Willshire, 1st Battalion, Scots Guards

Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, 1 clasp Tel-El-Kebir (Capt: Sir. A. R. T. Willshire, Bt. 1/Scots Gds); Khedive's Star, dated 1882, mounted as worn, heavy pitting, very fine (2)

Arthur Reginald Thomas Willshire was born on 23 November 1850, the son of General Sir Thomas Willishire, 1st Baronet, whose military service began during the war against Napoleon and ended with the 1st Afghan War - notably he was awarded the Order of the Durrani Empire after leading the storming of Kelat. Young Willshire was educated at Wellington College and was commissioned into the Scots Guards in 1869. Promoted Captain on 15 March 1873 he was still serving in this role during the Anglo-Egyptian War and here the Regiment took part in the Action at Mahuta and the Battle of Tel-El-Kebir.

Surviving the war, he was ironically nearly killed whilst crossing the street when a cab driver named Henry Wood accidentally ran down both Willshire and his friend Captain Menzies, both of the Guards. Thankfully this brush with an ignominious end did no lasting damage and Willshire was later promoted Captain and Lieutenant-Colonel, retiring on 11 April 1885. His son, Gerard Maxwell-Willshire, went on to serve in the Great War with the Honourable Artillery Company as a Private, rising to the heady heights of Corporal. The Lieutenant-Colonel died in 1919; sold together with copied research comprising army lists, a London Gazette entry and Medal rolls as well as an obituary, newspaper article and entry in Debrett's Illustrated Baronetage as well as photographs, details on the recipient's son and a copied Will.

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Sold for
£550

Starting price
£150