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Auction: 26002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 80

Victory Medal 1914-19 (Capt. R. d'A. S. Banks.), good very fine

Raymond d'Albini Sykes-Banks was born in 1891 at Portsmouth, the son of Major William Skyes-Banks and his wife Eleanor, of 19 Queen Square Bath. One of a pair of twins, he attended Wellington College with his twin Cyril from 1904-08.

With the outbreak of the Great War he commissioned into the 9th Bhopal Infantry. He was to be killed in action on 21 April 1917 near Samara during the Battle of Istabulat and is buried in the Basra Cemetery. Tragically, both his father and twin also lost their lives during the Great War, his father in February 1916 and his twin on 4 November 1918. What heartbreak it must have been for their mother. She raised a memorial to them in Portsmouth Cemetery, which states:

'IN PROUD AND LOVING MEMORY OF...

CAPTAIN RAYMOND D'ALBINI
9TH BHOPALS
INDIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE 1914
SERVED IN FRANCE, EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA
AND AT CAPTURE OF KUT AND BAGDAD
KILLED IN ACTION NEAR SAMARRA
21 APRIL 1917'

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Estimate
£40 to £60

Starting price
£30