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Auction: 25112 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 315

The campaign group of five awarded to Colonel A. L. Phillips, Indian Army Staff Corps

India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Chin-Lushai 1889-90 (Lieutt. A. L. Philips. S. C.); 1914 Star (Col: A. L. Phillips); British War and Victory Medals (Col. A. L. Phillips.); Delhi Durbar 1911, unnamed as issued, minor contact wear, overall very fine (5)

Alfred Lucian Phillips was born at Surat, India on 24 March 1861, the son of Alfred and Jane Phillips. His father was an officer in the Indian Army, serving as a Lieutenant with the 29th Native Infantry upon the younger Phillips' birth. Educated at Surrey County School he was commissioned Second Lieutenant with the 54th (West Norfolk) Regiment on 22 January 1881 before transferring to the Dorsetshire Regiment as a Lieutenant on 1 July of that same year.

Transferring to the Indian Staff Corps on 22 January 1882 he served in India and was present for the Chin-Lushai expeditions, being advanced Captain shortly afterwards on 22 January 1892. Phillips was listed as one of the officers who was presented with a captured rifle following disturbances on the North-West Frontier, he is listed as given two as 'curiosities.

A report made on 31 December 1889 places him as the Personal Assistant to the Commissary-General, Punjab Command from 1 January to 31 December, with the appointment Assistant Commissary General, 4th Class. During this time he also acted as Special Forage officer due to the absence of Major H. Wharry.

Further advanced Major on 22 Jan 1901 he remained in India and is noted on the roll of the 1903 Delhi Durbar as 'Deputy Director of Supply, Delhi Durbar'. Promoted Lieutenant-Colonel on 16 October 1905, correspondence suggests that he was acting as Director of Supplies and Transport for the 3rd Division in December 1907.

Appointed to Deputy Director General of Registration, India he was advanced Brevet Colonel at the same time on 16 October 1908. Later appointed Assistant Director of Supplies, India Phillips was promoted to Deputy Director of Supplies India on 1 April 1908, holding the role until 15 October 1909.

The roll of the Delhi Dubar 1911 medal lists him as the Assistant Director of Supplies and Transport, 8th Division. Phillips was confirmed Colonel on 24 March 1913 and was still serving in that role of on the outbreak of the Great War. Entering the war on 16 September 1914, his M.I.C. does not name the theatre however it does state that he was serving as Assistant Director of Transport for Indian Corps, suggesting either France or Egypt.

A later entry upon his M.I.C. notes that he served with M.I.8a, the branch of military intelligence related to wireless technology and more broadly radio communications. After the war Phillips retired to Bath, living at Milverton, Weston Park, Bath where he died in December 1940.

Notably Phillips' son Alfred Jerome Lucian Phillips went on to earn the D.S.O. as the Captain of H.M.S Norfolk during the hunt for and sinking of the Bismark, going on to achieve the rank of Rear-Admiral; sold together with copied research.

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Sold for
£500

Starting price
£350