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Auction: 25003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 279

An archive of material mainly related to the Zeebrugge Raid - from the collection of Admiral of the Fleet Roger John Brownlow Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes, GCB, KCVO, CMG, DSO and Lady Keyes

There is no shortage of books, biographies, memoirs and letters pertaining to the life of Roger Keyes. Almost as many, indeed, as his full array of titles: Admiral of the Fleet Lord Keyes of Zeebrugge and Dover, The Right Honourable Roger John Brownlow GCB, KCVO, CMG, DSO, of Tingewick House, Tingewick, Buckinghamshire.

In an early sign of the aristocratic milieu into which he was born on 4 October 1872, the baby Roger was christened with two of the most distinguished military figures of the day acting as his godfathers: Field-Marshal Sir Charles Brownlow and General Sir John Coke.

Like so many of the leading figures of that generation, the costs associated with feeding and educating a large family and finding a suitable place of residence proved onerous.

For those who were fans of Lord Keyes, however, there would be no shortage of supportive letters and poems following the Zeeebrugge Raid. Some had been penned by famous figures redolent of days of Nelson.

Keyes, whose son Geoffrey was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross in Libya in 1941, died on 26 December 1945. Probate was sought - and granted - in London on 5 June to his widow Lady Eva Mary Salvin Keyes and it was Eva who went on to receive his effects of £6,323 18s 3d.

Which probably has something to do with the parsimonious amount of cash left behind by the most renowned naval commander on the planet. In his biography of Keyes, Cecil Aspinall-Oglander wrote:

'On the morning after Zeebrugge, Keyes suddenly found himself world-famous. He had been given the immediate award of a KCB. The War Cabinet, the Admiralty and the War Office had vied with each other in praising his achievement, and congratulations were pouring into Dover from all over the Empire.'

His presentation copy of WELL DONE, VINDICTIVE!, the poem by Sydney Lee, Pain & Co., London, for the Benefit of King George's Fund for Sailors, with personal inscription, dated August 1918, to the inner, very fine

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Estimate
£40 to £60

Starting price
£30