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Auction: 7012 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 540

A Superb Campaign Combination Great War C.M.G. Group of Nine to Colonel T. Daly, Royal Army Medical Corps, Who Was Lost at Sea When H.M. Transport Arcadian was Torpedoed and Sunk in Six Minutes in the Aegean, April 1917 a) The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, Companion´s (C.M.G.) neck Badge, silver-gilt and enamel, in its Garrard. London case of issue b) India General Service 1854-95, one clasp, Hazara 1888 (Surgn T. Daly M.S.) c) India General Service 1895-1902, V.R., one clasp, Punjab Frontier 1897-98 (Major T. Daly. R.A.M.C.) d) Queen´s South Africa 1899-1902, three clasps, Cape Colony, Transvaal, Wittebergen (Major T. Daly. R.A.M.C.) e) King´s South Africa 1901-02, two clasps (Major T. Daly. R.A.M.C.) f) 1914-15 Star (Lt. Col. T. Daly. R.A.M.C.) g) British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oakleaves (Col. T. Daly.) h) Delhi Durbar 1911, generally good very fine or better, medals mounted court style for display (9) Estimate £ 1,800-2,000 C.M.G. London Gazette 1.1.1917 Col. Thomas Daly, R.A.M.C. Colonel Thomas Daly, C.M.G., born 1861; educated in Dublin, Ireland and took the L.R.C.S.I. and L.R.C.PI. in 1882; joined the Army as a Surgeon, 1885 and was attached to the 2nd Battalion Seaforth Highlanders for service in the Hazara Expedition (1888); advanced Surgeon Major 1897 and saw service in the Punjab Frontier operations (1897-98) and in South Africa 1899-1902, including in the action at Bethlehem; Lieutenant-Colonel August 1905 and was one of only twelve R.A.M.C. Officers to be awarded a Delhi Durbar Medal in 1911; served during the Great War in the French Theatre of War from, December 1914; Colonel March 1915 and appointed as an Assistant Director of Services to a Division in June of the same year; saw further service on the Salonika front (C.M.G., M.I.D. London Gazette 4.1.1917) before receiving orders to take up a new appointment in Egypt, for which he embarked on H.M. Transport Arcadian, ´The liner Arcadian, Captain C.L. Willats, was taken over from the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company during the First World War and converted into a transport. On 15 April 1917, the ship with a company of 1335 troops and crew was proceeding from Salonika to Alexandria, and was in the southern Aegean, 26 miles N.E. of Milo. The troops had just completed boat-drill when a submarine approached unseen and discharged a torpedo which inflicted such extensive damage that the vessel sank in six minutes. Fortunately the men´s recent exercise at the boats imparted steadiness and confidence and 1058 were rescued, either through their own efforts or by the escorting destroyer. The number drowned was 277 and, had it not been for the sudden capsizing of the vessel, many more would have been saved. Those lost included 19 army officers [Daly among them] and 214 other ranks, as well as ten naval ratings and 34 members of crew. A considerable amount of wreckage and spars was sucked down and this, coming to the surface with great force, killed many who were swimming in the water.´ (A Dictionary of Disasters at Sea, refers). Daly has no known grave and is commemorated on the Mikra Memorial.

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£1,900