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Auction: 24113 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 416

The outstanding campaign pair awarded to Brigadier-General R. Hoare, C.M.G., D.S.O., 4th Hussars, whom he Commanded from 1905-09, who commanded the 2nd Dismounted Brigade, Egyptian Expeditionary Force, during the initial stages of the Great War, before proceeding to France with the 229th Infantry Brigade

Besides a fine Great War, he was a great chum of Winston Churchill and the pair shared many happy times on the Polo field together, having written and formed the 'Polo Club 4th Hussars Rules & Committee' - of which Hoare was the President

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Major R. Hoare, 4/Hussars), engraved Officer's naming; 1914-15 Star (Brig: Gen: R. Hoare.), traces of lacquer, good very fine (2)

[C.M.G.] London Gazette 1 January 1919.

[D.S.O.] London Gazette 1 January 1918.

[Russian Order of St Stanislaus, 2nd Class with Swords] London Gazette 15 February 1917.

M.I.D. London Gazette 13 July 1916, 12 January & 20 December 1918.

Reginald Hoare was born on 18 September 1865, the seventh son of T. R. Hoare, Esq., of Kensington, London, and was educated at Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was gazetted Lieutenant in the 4th Hussars on 30 January 1886, and was promoted Captain on 1 May 1893; Major on 4 February 1899; Lieutenant-Colonel on 13 May 1905; and Brevet Colonel on 13 May 1908, receiving the substantive rank on 19 June 1910. He served in South Africa during the Boer War in 1901 and 1902 on the Staff, and commanded a Mobile Column from February to May 1902.

It was whilst en route to India in October 1896, that he and a young Officer by the name Winston S. Churchill, proposed and raised the 4th Hussars Polo Club and its Rules. Churchill later described the origins of the club in My Early Life:

'It was upon [polo] that apart from duty all our interest was concentrated. But before you can play polo you must have ponies. We had formed on the voyage a regimental polo club, which in return for moderate but regular subscriptions from all the officers (polo-players and non-polo-players alike) offered substantial credit facilities for the procuring of these indispensable allies'. Polo was to be a central feature of his army life.

The list of proposed members of the Committee includes, as well as himself, Churchill's friends, Lieutenants Albert Savory and Alan Ogilivie Francis (with whom he rode in point-to-points at Aldershot); Captain [Edgar Mortimer] Lafone, brother-in-law of Pamela Plowden with whom he was soon to fall in love; Lieutenant Reginald Barnes and Lieutenant the Hon. Hugo Baring, with whom he shared a bungalow at Bangalore, and two other officers; Captain Hoare is President and signed the document - which was sold at Christie's in June 2006. The team was formed and performed well, including an All-India tournament at Meerut in early 1898. Churchill continues:

'We shall definitely find out what place in Indian Polo the regiment can aspire to. The team is as follows: 1. self, 2. [Albert] Savory, 3. [Major Reginald] Hoare, 4. [Reginald] Barnes. We are altogether equipped with 24 ponies and I have some hopes that we may do well...the polo tournament ended as I expected in our defeat by the famous Durham Light Infantry, though after a gallant fight. We made hay of the 5th Dragoon Guards in the first round and escaped without disgrace.'

Hoare commanded the 4th Hussars from 13 May 1905-12 May 1909, and subsequently commanded the 2nd Dismounted Brigade, Egyptian Expeditionary Force, during the initial stages of the Great War, before proceeding to France with the 229th Infantry Brigade on 27 June 1916. During the remainder of the Great War he earned the C.M.G., D.S.O., a St Stanislaus from the Russians and a wound for good measure and retired Brigadier-General on 29 July 1919. Having started writing to a Miss Walker shortly before the Gallipoli campaign, Hoare eventually married her after his discharged from hospital in October 1918. He had issue of three sons and a daughter. A member of the Cavalry Club and White's, he lived at Badger Heath near Wolverhampton and died in 1947.

His letters and photographs were published by Toddy Hoare in 2018 under the title Dear Miss Walker: Gallipoli, Egypt and Palestine 1915–1918, Wartime Letters from Distant Fronts.

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Sold for
£950

Starting price
£550