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Auction: 26003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 303

(x) The I.S.O. pair awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel B. Solomon, South Australian Militia, late 'A' Battery, Adelaide Field Artillery and a prominent Jewish Australian

Imperial Service Order, G.V.R. (Benjamin Solomon); Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers´ Decoration, V.R.I. (Lieut. Col. B. Solomon.), good very fine and a rare pair (2)

V.D. confirmed June 1901 (For 30 years' service) and likely presented by the Duke of York at his Royal levee in Adelaide on 10 July 1901.

Benjamin Solomon - or 'Colonel Ben' to his friends and comrades - was born at Brisbane in November 1844, son of Judah Moss Solomon, Queensland's Government Auctioneer, a prominent member of the Jewish society and later mayor of Adelaide and a member of both of South Australia's houses of parliament.

Young Solomon went to Adelaide in 1846, by his uncles (Emmanuel Solomon) brig Dorset. Thence travelling to England, they were wrecked off Cape Town but lived to tell the tale. Educated at London College and latterly at St Peter's College, Adelaide, he began his career as a General Agent & Auctioneer.

Joining the State Civil Service as an officer of the Adelaide Local Court, he joined the Adelaide Field Artillery in 1860 under Colonel Torren, being commissioned Lieutenant in 1877, Captain in 1878, Major in 1883 and Lieutenant-Colonel in 1896. Retired in 1905, with the outbreak of the Great War he established the Office of Military Censor for South Australia, being its Chief Censor and retired in 1916. Twice commended by the Royal Humane Society for saving life at Glenelg, he died in September 1922.

He was hailed as a prominent Jewish Australian by the Australian Jewish News.

Subject to 5% tax on Hammer Price in addition to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium.

Estimate
£300 to £500

Starting price
£240