Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 7029 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 373

The Extraordinary Great War ´Somme´ D.S.O. Group of Seven to Major C. ap Rhys Pryce, Royal Artillery, A Magonista Generalissimo, A Mercenary, a Veteran of Armed Conflict on Four Continents and A Hollywood Star a) Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, minor wear to green enamel, with integral top riband bar b) British South Africa Company´s Medal 1890-97, for Mashonaland 1897, no clasp (401. Troopr. C.A.R. Pryce. B.S.A. Police.) c) Queen´s South Africa 1899-1902, two clasps, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal (2138 Tpr: C.R. Pryce. Natal Police.) d) King´s South Africa 1901-02, two clasps (899 Sjt. C.A.R. Pryce. S.A.C.), top lugs removed e) 1914-15 Star (Capt. C. Ap. R. Pryce. R.F.A.) f) British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oakleaves (Major C. Ap. R. Pryce), very fine or better, mounted as originally worn, with the associated miniature awards, the B.S.A.C. medal with reverse for Matabeleland, all housed in a Spink & Son custom made leather case, this slightly damaged, with a copy of Gringo Revolutionary, The Amazing Adventures of Caryl Ap Rhys Pryce, by John Humphries; and the following documentation: - Two Mentioned in Despatches Certificates, dated 13.11.1916 and 9.4.1917 - a typed copy of recipient´s service record and several copies of testimonials (lot) Estimate £ 1,200-1,400 D.S.O. London Gazette 4.6.1917 Temp Capt (Acting Major) Caryl Ap Rhys Pryce, Royal Field Artillery Major Caryl Ap Rhys Pryce, D.S.O. (1876-1955), born Madras, India; he claimed descent from Gwaethfod, Lord Cardigan, a Prince of Wales and kinship to Owain Glyndwr; educated at St. Salvator´s School, St. Andrew´s, and Glenalmond College; after he left school he played football for Glasgow Academicals, whilst training with the 1st Lanark Rifle Volunteers. Africa This sedate life did not seem to appeal to the young Welshman for very long and on 1.5.1897 he arrived in Salisbury, Rhodesia, to join the British South Africa Police. He attested as a Trooper and was assigned to "D" Company, Mashonaland Division under the command of Inspector R.C. Nesbitt V.C. Pryce did not have to wait long to be in the thick of the action, including the storming of Matshayongombi´s stronghold, July 1897, where the troopers had to use dynamite to blow the rebels out of their fortified caverns. Over the course of four days, 278 surrendered with hundreds more entombed within the rock. Pryce was discharged in March 1898, before enlisting almost immediately in the Natal Mounted Police at Pietermaritzburg, 1.5.1898. This began a period of rapid transfers with Pryce serving in the Imperial Light Horse for six months in 1900, before taking up a position in the South African Constabulary later that year. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in January 1903, serving as District Commandant in the districts of Bethlem, Springfontein, Flicksburg and Jacobsdal. During this period he also acted as Magistrate. A New Continent, a New Start After his time in Africa Pryce decided to try his hand at business in Vancouver, where, upon arrival he joined the 6th Duke of Connaught´s Own Rifles, the local militia unit. With his business fairing badly combined with having to fight off the advances of a woman intent on marrying him, Pryce made a spur of the moment decision which was to greatly affect the rest of his life. Whilst walking late one night he happened upon the ferry to Los Angeles, and without further thought or telling anybody of his intentions he jumped aboard. He arrived in L.A. in January 1911 without a penny to his name, to mingle amongst a large population suffering from high unemployment and great disaffection. Magonistas Pryce´s arrival in L.A. coincided with the heightened activity of Ricardo Flores Magon, an exiled Mexican revolutionary with anarcho-communist ambitions towards ousting the then President of Mexico Porfirio Diaz. The latter had been in power for 30 years, and was under increasing pressure by another revolutionary called Madero, whose ´Generals´ were to later be Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. Magon was constantly watched by both U.S. and Mexican agents, and forever fearful of being extradited back to his home land to face the firing squad. Despite this he plotted a revolution in Baja California, right on the American border. Magon was based in L.A. and appealed to the down trodden masses to stand with him in the belief that they would act as a vanguard of socialist revolution, after all by helping their Mexican brothers could they not pave the way for reform for themselves? What he got as volunteers was a fairly broad spectrum of, ´U.S. Army deserters, border bandits, escaped convicts, mercenaries, and most of all Caryl ap Rhys Pryce.´ (Gringo Revolutionary, The Amazing Adventures of Caryl Ap Rhys Pryce, by J. Humphries, refers). Perhaps this seemed too good an opportunity for adventure to miss, or perhaps more realistically it was because he had no money, but either way Pryce made his way to Mexico for the Magonistas´ promise of a dollar a day with a $100 bounty and 160 acres of free land in Baja California, if he were to be on the winning side. Pryce and 17 other volunteers arrived at Holtville to be lead across the border into Mexico by ´Generalissimo´ Jose Maria Leyva and his second in command Simon Berthold. Pryce found himself in the company of other Boer War veterans, such as ´Melbourne´ Hopkins (an Australian), and several U.S. Army deserters most prominent of which was to become Stanley Williams. This rag-tag band of poorly armed individuals were to combine with a party of Indians, ´the only thing distinguishing them as an army, the anarchist emblem, tiny red bows, pinned to their sleeves.´ (Ibid). Leyva marched on the border town of Mexicali, 27.1.1911, and took it without any great resistance. They ´enlisted´ the prisoners from the jail, routed the small garrison and ransacked the town looting from the 1,000 population. News of this success was played up by Magon back in L.A., with more numbers swelling to the cause. Given the proximity of Mexicali to the U.S. border Washington requested that Diaz deal with this ´uprising´. In answer to this request the State Governor, Colonel Celso Vega, accompanied by 100 fedrales (police) set off on a 10 day forced march across the mountains to Mexicali. Exhausted by the march they were badly prepared to take on the entrenched Magonista insurrectos, and after a two hour pitched battle in which 3 federales and 2 insurrectos were killed, the Mexican force fled carrying the wounded Vega with them. The military knowledge of the veterans had come to the fore, leading to Stanley Williams taking command of the Magonistas and, ´Williams wasted no time stamping his new authority on the rebel army. Declaring he wanted action quickly, he, Pryce and Hopkins, together with 40 other gringos, hijacked a train to raid Algodones about 30 miles down the line towards Arizona. Bridges were blown, telegraph lines cut, and the terrified inhabitants sent fleeing across the border.´ (Ibid). The continued raids on cattle and other items caused extreme discomfort amongst the wealthy American land owners in the Imperial Valley which in turn put further pressure on Washington and ultimately Diaz to do something. The answer came on the 6th of March when, ´the War Department announced the largest mobilisation of troops and naval vessels ever undertaken by the United States in peacetime. Twenty thousand soldiers, a fifth of the U.S. Army, together with most of the Pacific Fleet, 2,000 marines recalled from their base at Guantanamo in Cuba, were converging on the border with Mexico.´ (Ibid) The relative stability of Diaz´s reign had been good for the U.S.´s $1 billion investment in Mexico, however the pressure caused on that stability by Madero and now the Magonistas camped closely to their border appeared to be trying their diplomatic patience. On the 8th of April Colonel Mayol and 600 regular soldiers of the Mexican ´Fighting Eighth´, with artillery support, advanced to within 5 miles of Mexicali. Williams and Pryce rode out to meet them with what had been called the 2nd Battalion of the Liberal Army in Lower California, better known as the ´Foreign Legion´. The force of 80 men, only 30 of whom were mounted, were ambushed in an open cornfield on John Little´s Ranch by the Mexican machine guns and artillery pieces, ´Shells screamed overhead, kicking up great clouds of dust and sand, the Magonistas diving for cover in the craters gouged in the desert floor. Pinned down by two chattering Hotchkisses, with Williams dying at his side, part of his head blown off.... Pryce sent ´Dynamite´ Bill the oldest man in the Second Battalion to attack the machine guns with his homemade bombs..... Crawling to the edge of the Encina Canal, he lit the fuses from the end of his cigar, lobbing his bombs at the enemy.... Convinced the insurrectos had artillery, the Mexicans did pull back for a time.´ (Ibid) One of Bill´s bombs took out a machine gun and ´they were able to escape the ambush, the survivors struggling back to Mexicali, protesting that the federales took no prisoners, bayoneting the wounded where they fell in the cornfield.´ (Ibid) The insurrectos, now lead by Pryce, had suffered 40 killed out of a force of 80, with the Mexicans only losing 12 men out of 600. After the battle Pryce was voted Generalissimo, ´most felt they owed their lives to Pryce; that without his leadership they would be lying with their comrades in the small cemetery... To them, he was a mercenary, pure and simple, the only man capable of leading them to the elusive pot of gold, if it existed.´ The Magonista cause was now starting to attract newspaper headlines in the U.S., to the extent that journalists were braving the journey across the border for the chance of an interview with the enigmatic Welshman. In one interview which appeared in the Sunset Magazine shortly after the massacre at John Little´s Ranch, Pryce was quoted as saying of his own men, ´a bully fine lot. I thought I´d lose half of them after the first fight, but it only seems to have wet their whistle. Still, they haven´t looked on their own dead, and that makes a difference. I´ll lose lots of them if I don´t give them more action. The young bloodhounds! They must have it.´ All was not well, however, despite Pryce´s gentlemanly approach to command there were often dissenting parties, which was not to be unexpected in a force which had amongst it´s ranks several well known American criminals who had crossed over the border to avoid the hangman´s noose. During his time in command Pryce ordered the execution of two of his men, one for rape the other for murder. In May 1911, with a force now totalling 200 mounted men, Pryce set out to capture the gambling town of Tijuana. His force had to cross a multitude of difficult terrain, varying from sweltering deserts to freezing mountain tops. The town´s population of 2,000 was garrisoned by 100 men. On the morning of Pryce´s attack, his insurrectos easily secured the southern perimeter before awaiting further orders. A stand off ensued, during which Pryce asked the garrison commander to surrender, the answer was negative. At first light Pryce moved into the town, ´Afterwards, describing the attack to reporters, Pryce boasted that his men, "showed no quarter or mercy... fought like demons, time and again rushing trenches or strongholds in a face of a veritable rain of lead."´ (Ibid) In the house to house fighting that ensued the Mexican´s lost 18 killed and Pryce´s forces seven killed. With Tijuana taken it blew open the access to the capital Ensenada, and the control of Baja California. These events were overshadowed by the capture of Ciudad Jaurez by the Maderista General Orozco the day after Pryce took Tijuana. To advance any further Pryce needed more arms and ammunition and as such he snuck over the border under an assumed identity to meet Magon´s man in San Diego. Accompanied by Hopkins, he did not keep a low profile for long, having received so many headlines it appeared that Pryce rather than being perceived as a villain had achieved local celebrity status as ´The Mexican Robin Hood´, with the result that many people were insistent on buying the pair drinks. The U.S. Army were alerted to his presence and he and Hopkins were arrested on the 19th May, rushed into the District Court the next day, only for the War Department having to sanction their release having found no substantial evidence to hold them. Pryce returned to his troops at Tijuana only to receive a body blow, with the news that Diaz had signed a treaty with Madero, 25.5.1911. Diaz fled to France, with elections imminent that would confirm Madero in the position of power. Ironically Pryce´s men had aided Madero´s success by diverting essential military resources away from him on to them. This left Pryce in a quandary as to what to do, he had received very little direction and support in general from Magon who was safely tucked away in L.A. and constantly demanding any funds that Pryce acquired. His men were constantly volatile, a reporter who visited Tijuana at the time recorded, ´a visit to Tijuana was like living on the brink of a volcano; there was not a sane man in the entire town, just anarchy.´ Pryce turned to Magon, and in the middle of the night quit the camp and headed for L.A. with Hopkins, ´It was getting so serious that I came up to Los Angeles to see the Junta and find out what they intended doing. They had no money, and we didn´t have any ammunition and it was useless to move on to Ensenada. So when I found the jig was up, I wrote back to the boys at Tijuana and advised them to disband. Hopkins and I came north to look for something else. Perhaps some day we may go back. I could hold Lower California with a 1,000 men and a couple of screw guns.´ (Ibid). The insurrectos were ordered by Magon to continue flying the Red Flag, but in reality without Pryce´s military acumen, and a supply of ammunition the noose was tightening. On the 22nd of June, one week after Pryce left, Vega returned with a force which outnumbered the Magonistas 6 to 1 and took Tijuana massacring the insurrectos in the process. Pryce´s flight was short lived, and he was intercepted by F.B.I. agents just north of San Francisco. The Mexican Consul demanded that Pryce be extradited to face charges of arson and murder, charges that he vehemently denied, and charges that he was cleared of by Commissioner Van Dyke in the District Court of Southern California, 28.9.1911. The case had lasted a week, attracting a large amount of press coverage, and was filled with intrigue with one of the chief witnesses for the defence having been murdered before he had chance to give evidence that favoured Pryce. Finally he was cleared of violation of neutrality laws, and once again Pryce found himself penniless and on the streets. Hollywood Beckons Having had a taste of celebrity it appeared Pryce could not keep out of the limelight for long, receiving a lucky break in the newly formed film empire in Hollywood. With his rugged looks and his revolutionary past he went on to perform in several silent movies, including starring alongside the then Hollywood Queen Alice Joyce in The Colonel´s Escape (24.6.1912), the plot loosely based around his adventures in Mexico. The Great War Perhaps sensing War was afoot again, Pryce returned to Canada in 1914 and joined the Fort Garry Horse at Winnipeg, before transferring as a Lieutenant to the 5th Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery, ´after ten months training, he sailed with the Canadian Expeditionary Force to England aboard the S.S. Irishman, transferring again on arrival to the Royal Field Artillery attached to the 38th (Welsh) Division of which his elder brother, Harry, was a General Staff Officer.´ (Ibid) Pryce, now aged 38, was posted as the Commanding Officer of "A" Battery 119th Field Artillery Brigade. He moved into the French Theatre of War with his battery in November 1915. He was soon to be ably assisted by Battery Sergeant Major E.G. Horlock V.C., who, in his War Diary (residing in the Royal Artillery Museum) he described as a ´treasure´. At the beginning of July 1916 ´Pryce was ordered to get his guns into position behind Fricourt, not far from Mametz Wood, one of the objectives of the bloody Somme Offensive. The day before part of his diary was blown away by a piece of German shrapnel, he and two other officers were reconnoitring the German positions at Contalmaison when they stumbled upon an enemy machine gun position held by 17 Germans all of whom surrendered to the three British Officers after a furious exchange of fire.´ (Ibid) By late May 1917 Pryce´s battery was in position awaiting the assault on Messines, ´But shortly before this began Pryce was hit in the shoulder by a shrapnel burst on 3rd of June. Sufficiently badly wounded to be invalided home, spending the remainder of the war in command of a reserve artillery brigade at Aldershot.´ (M.I.D. London Gazette 4.1.1917 and 23.8.1917). The day that he was wounded the award of his D.S.O. for his action against the machine gun position was published in the London Gazette One Last Hurrah Little is known regarding Pryce´s movements up until March 1922, when he joined the Palestine Gendarmerie at Fort Tragantle, Plymouth. He received a glowing testimonial from Lieutenant-General R.S.S. Baden-Powell. With 762 other volunteers he set out for the 13,724 square miles of mandate territory which had become a British responsibility at the end of the Great War. Major Pryce was given command of No. 6 Company at Nazareth, before assuming command of the Mounted Squadron. The border patrols were to prove mostly uneventful and Pryce returned to England in 1925. After a brief flirtation with the Conservative Party, he happily spent the rest of his days in the Lake District avoiding what had been unpopular with him for most of his life, peace and quiet.

Sold for
£4,600