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Auction: 14001 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals and Militaria
Lot: 8

A Scarce India 'Quetta Earthquake' C.I.E., Great War O.B.E. Group of Eight to Lieutenant-Colonel J. Cairns, Royal Army Medical Corps, Who Was The Officer Commanding the Medical Response Contingent Sent to Deal With the Aftermath of the Natural Disaster, Which Caused the Loss of Tens of Thousands of Lives
a) The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, Companion's (C.I.E.) neck Badge, gold and enamel
b) The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, 1st type, Military Division, Officer's (O.B.E.) breast Badge, silver-gilt (Hallmarks for London 1919)
c) The Most Venerable Order of St. John, Commander's neck Badge, silver and enamel
d) British War Medal (Major J. Cairns.)
e) Jubilee 1935
f) Coronation 1937
g) Efficiency Decoration, G.VI.R., silver and silver-gilt, the reverse engraved 'Major (Hony.Lt.-Col.). J. Cairns, A.F. (Med.Corps)', with integral top 'India' riband bar
h) Service Medal of the Order of St. John (2263. Asst./Commr. J. Cairns. No.1 Dis. India. S.J.A.B.O. 1938.), nearly extremely fine or better, with a photographic image of the recipient (8)

C.I.E. London Gazette 1.1.1936 James Cairns, Esq., O.B.E., Chief Medical and Health Officer, North-Western Railway, Punjab.

O.B.E. London Gazette 12.9.1919 Cairns, T./Capt. James, R.A.M.C. (T.F.)
'In recognition of distinguished services rendered in India in connection with the War.'

Commander, Order of St. John London Gazette 3.1.1936 James Cairns, O.B.E., M.B.

Lieutenant-Colonel James Cairns, C.I.E., O.B.E., E.D. (1885-1939), born Glasgow; educated at Allan Glen's School, and the University of Glasgow; prior to the Great War practised as resident House Surgeon and Physician Royal, Victoria Infirmaries, Glasgow, and Resident Assistant Physician, Knightswood and Ruchill Hospitals, Glasgow. Commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps, he served during the Great War with the R.A.M.C. in India (entitled to British War Medal only) and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and Mentioned in Despatches. After the War transferred to the Auxiliary Force Medical Corps, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Appointed Assistant Medical Officer of Health, Bombay, 1919; Principal Medical Officer of Health of the G.I.P. Railway, March 1920; Chief Medical Officer, North Western Railway, 1927. Served with the St. John Ambulance Brigade, No.1 District, India, from 1927, and honorary president, Punjab Branch, British Medical Association. On the occasion of the Quetta Earthquake, 31.5.1935, which claimed the lives of between 30,000 and 60,000 people, Cairns went to Quetta in charge of the medical contingent, which left Lahore fully equipped within a few hours of the disaster (largely thanks to his forethought and preparations for emergencies), and 'for his brilliant work on this occasion he was granted the C.I.E.' (the recipient's Obituary in The British Medical Journal refers)- a rare instance of a C.I.E. being awarded for specific geographic service. Awarded the Efficiency Decoration, 3.6.1939; died Lahore.

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