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Auction: 25002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 227

Pair: Leading Aircraftsman E. J. Tyzack, Royal Air Force

General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Northern Kurdistan (507202 L.A.C. E.J. Tyzack. R.A.F.); Iraq, Kingdom, Active Service Medal, 1 clasp, 'Southern Kurdistan 1930-31', unnamed as issued, mounted together as worn, very fine (2)

Ernest John Tyzack was born in Headingley, Leeds in Yorkshire on 18 October 1907 and worked as an engineer with a naval construction works in Dulmair, near Glasgow, prior to joining the Royal Air Force at age 19 on 22 September 1927. Mustered as an Aircraft Hand, he eventually worked his way up to Leading Aircraftsman. The 1939 register records Tyzack and his wife Dorothy living The Vicarage in Beverley, Yorkshire, and his working as a civil servant with the Aeronautical Inspector Directorate. He was married twice, his first marriage was in July 1936 to Dorothy Dobson, and his second to Olga Whincup in October 1948. He died at Weymouth, Dorset on 24 July 1955; sold together with copied research.

The Iraq Active Service Medal was instituted in 1926 by the Gallantry and Active Service Medals Law No. 34. The medal, bronze in colour, takes the shape of a disc fixed upon two crossed rifles with their muzzles appearing at the top and their butts at the bottom. Between the muzzles is a radiation of nine lance points. In the centre of the obverse the inscription 'Active Service' rests above a laurel wreath and a crescent, and the reverse features 'Faisal The First' and the Hijrah date of institution '1344'.

Whilst initially issued without clasps, from 1930 to 1936 five distinct clasps were issued: 'Southern Kurdistan 1930-31', 'Barzan 1932', 'The Tiareen Operations 1933', 'The Euphrates Operations 1935' and 'The Euphrates Operations 1936'. It would appear that these were issued loose as the suspension bar's design did not easily accommodate clasps. Such clasps as issued to the British Royal Air Force were affixed to the medal and are believed to have been attached locally. The initial issues bear no maker's mark, however in the later years of the Iraqi monarchy they were manufactured by Huguenin of Le Locle, Switzerland.

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Estimate
£600 to £800

Starting price
£480