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Auction: 23113 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 570

A Boer War D.S.O. group of five awarded to Colonel F. B. Lecky, Royal Horse Artillery, who commanded 200 men of the Royal Artillery Mounted Rifles with distinction at Boschbult, 31 March 1902

Distinguished Service Order, V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar; Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 1 clasp, Tel-El-Kebir (Lieut: F. B. Lecky. 1/2. Bde. R.A.), edge bruising; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 6 clasps, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, Driefontein, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Belfast (Major F. B. Lecky, D.S.O., T. By, R.H.A.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, erased; Khedive’s Star 1882, unnamed as issued, mounted for display, top lugs removed to facilitate mounting, generally very fine (5)

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

M.I.D. London Gazette 16 April 1901.

Frederic Beauchamp Lecky was born in October 1858, and was the son of J. F. Lecky, DL, of Ballykealey, Tullow, County Carlow. Frederic Lecky was educated at Uppingham and R.M.A. Woolwich, and was commissioned Lieutenant into the Royal Artillery in January 1878. He served with the Royal Artillery during the Egypt campaign of 1882, and advanced to Captain in March 1886, and to Major in April 1896.

Lecky served during the Second Boer War, and was present at the Relief of Kimberley; the operations in the Orange Free State, February to May 1900, including operations at Paardeberg, 17 - 26 February; actions at Poplar Grove, Dreifontein, Vet River, 5 - 6 June May and Zand River; operations in the Transvaal in May and June 1900, including actions near Johannesburg, Pretoria and Diamond Hill, 11 - 12 June; operations in the Transvaal, east of Pretoria, July to 29 November 1900, including actions at Reitvlei and Belfast, 26 - 27 August; operations in the Transvaal, 30 November 1900 - January 1902, and March - 31 May 1902; operations in Orange River Colony, January - March 1902.

Lecky commanded ‘O’ and ‘T’ Batteries, Royal Horse Artillery, from January 1902. They were employed as part of the Royal Artillery Mounted Rifles in Colonel J. L. Keir’s column. This was the first time that the Royal Artillery Mounted Rifles took to the field. Lecky distinguished himself during the pursuit of De La Rey, in particular during the action at Boschbult in the Western Transvaal, 31 March 1902:

‘Damant had been checked on the farm lands of Boschbult, at the western limit of a wide clearing in the sea of bush. As it was essential that the whole column gain the free field of fire presented by this clearing, Keir, with the R.H.A. Mounted Rifles and Kitchener’s Horse, was sent to hold the Boers on the rising ground on the left; while Damant, with Damant’s Horse, the Yeomanry and the 28th M.I., protected the front and right. In this way the ground was easily maintained until the arrival, about midday, of the Canadians and transport....

Half-a-mile further to the east, another farmhouse, also close to the river, was occupied as a detached post by Major Lecky and 200 of the R.H.A. Mounted Rifles and a pom-pom. In the meantime, the outer screen was maintained, but in a much modified form. Keir, with Kitchener’s Horse and the rest of the R.H.A. Mounted Rifles, was drawn in close to the camp, which he protected on the south.....

Tools being few and the ground hard, the work of intrenchment went on slowly, and at 1.20pm, before it was nearly complete, the Boers made their first serious attack. Bringing up four guns and a pom-pom to the scrub-covered ground to the south-west, they began to shell the camp, with the result that some of the mule-drivers inspanned their wagons and began a stampede. The panic was quelled and the wagons rounded up, but not before a few vehicles had run amuck through the 28th M.I., causing the men of one company to lose their heads. Before this company could be rallied it was isolated by a Boer charge. Seizing what appeared to be a favourable moment, Liebenberg, with several hundred men, galloped out from behind the Boer guns, swept across the front of the laager, and charged down in the direction of farm C. Recoiling under the fire of Keir’s troops extended on the south bank, they swerved away wide to the east; then, wheeling to their left, bore down upon the farm from the north-east. It was a spirited charge on the best Boer model; but Liebenberg, it would appear, had not counted on finding the farm occupied and intrenched. Lecky’s R.H.A. Mounted Rifles, ensconced in the farm buildings and enclosure, brought the charge to an abrupt end by a steady volume of fire reserved till the enemy was at point-blank range. Swerving once again, the Boers cut off and drove from the field the broken company of M.I. to which we referred above, and disappeared in the bush to the north of the camp.’ (The Times History of the War in South Africa 1899-1902, refers)

Lecky was presented with his D.S.O. by the Duke of Cornwall and York (later H.M. King George V), 17 August 1901. He advanced to Lieutenant-Colonel in August 1903; was given the Brevet of Colonel in August 1908, and retired Colonel 17 August 1908. Colonel Lecky died in November 1928.

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Sold for
£2,500

Starting price
£1800