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Auction: 23001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 466

The outstanding V.C., C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O. group of seventeen miniature dress medals worn by Major-General H. E. M. Douglas, Royal Army Medical Corps

Victoria Cross; The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, C.B. Badge, silver-gilt and enamel; The Most Distinguished Order of St Michael & St George, C.M.G. Badge, gold and enamel; Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., gold and enamel; Queen's South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, South Africa 1901; Africa General Service 1902-56, 2 clasps, Somaliland 1902-04, Jidballi; 1914-15 Star; British War and Victory Medals General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, N. W. Persia; Coronation 1937; Serbia, Kingdom, Order of St Sava, Badge with rosette upon riband, silver-gilt and enamel; Red Cross Society Decoration 1876; Commemorative Medal for the 1912 War; 1913 Commemorative Cross; France, Republic, Croix de Guerre with Palme; British Red Cross Society Medal for the Balkan Wars 1912-13, 1 clasp, Servia, all but the last mounted court-style as worn by Spink & Son, 5, 6 & 7 King St, London, good very fine (17)

V.C. London Gazette 29 March 1901:

'On the 11th Dec. 1899, during the action at Magersfontein, Lieutenant Douglas showed great gallantry and devotion, under a very severe fire, in advancing in the open and attending to Capt. Gordon, Gordon Highlanders, who was wounded, and also attending to Major Robinson and other wounded men under a fearful fire. Many similar acts of devotion and gallantry were performed by Lieut. Douglas on the same day.'

C.B. London Gazette June 1932.

C.M.G. London Gazette 1 January 1916.

D.S.O. London Gazette 19 April 1901.

Henry Edward Manning Douglas was born on 11 July 1875 at Gillingham, Kent and took the Scottish Triple Qualification (LRCP(Edin), LRCS(Edin), LRCPS(Glas) in 1898. Commissioned Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps on 28 July 1899, he went out to the Boer War a few months later. In the act of winning his Victoria Cross, Douglas was himself wounded by a bullet in the face and was invalided back home. He returned to South Africa only two months later, however, leaving Southampton in the Ottoman in late February 1900; he continued to serve until he returned to the United Kingdom in early 1901. He received his V.C. from the hands of King Edward VII during an investiture at Marlborough House on 25 July 1901.

He was promoted Captain on 27 July 1903 and on his return to England served at St George's Barracks, London. In October 1903, he again saw active service in Africa, with General Egerton's command in Somaliland, 1903-4, and was present at the Battle of Jidballi (Medal & 2 clasps). Advanced Major in 1911, he served in Serbia and in the Great War and was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel 1915 and was also in receipt of the Order of St Sava, Serbia.

Douglas served as commandant of the Royal Army Medical College from 1926-29, then Deputy Director Medical Services, Southern Command, India, until 1933. Major-General Douglas died at Droitwich, Worcestershire, on 14 February 1939. His full-size awards are held and displayed by the Army Medical Services Museum in Aldershot.

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Sold for
£8,500

Starting price
£2800