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Auction: 4004 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 8

An Interesting C.V.O., C.B.E., D.S.O. Group of Fifteen to Colonel (Acting Brigadier General) R.E.M. Russell, Royal Engineers, Later Wing Commander, Royal Air Force a) The Royal Victorian Order, Commander's (C.V.O.) neck Badge, silver-gilt and enamel, reverse numbered 'C484', slight blue enamel damage b) Order of the British Empire, Commanders' (C.B.E.), 1st type, Military Division, neck Badge, silver-gilt and enamel c) Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel d) Queen's South Africa, five clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901; South Africa 1902 (Lieut. R.E.M. Russell R.E.) e) 1914-15 Star (Major) f) British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oakleaves (Bt Lt/Col R.E.M. Russell R.E.); these unofficially named g) Defence and War Medals h) Jubilee, 1935; Coronation, 1937 i) Turkey, Order of the Medjidieh, Fourth Class breast Badge, silver and enamel, with rosette, slight enamel damage j) Egypt, Order of the Nile, Fourth Class breast Badge, silver and enamel, with rosette, slight enamel damage k) Italy, Order of St. Maurice and Lazarus, Knight's breast Badge, gold and enamel, with rosette l) Khedive's Sudan 1910-12, one clasp, Sudan 1912, except where stated very fine or better, with portrait photograph of recipient, three other photographs and a quantity of research (15) Estimate £ 1,800-2,200 C.V.O. London Gazette 3.6.1931 Colonel Reginald Edmind Maghlin Russell, C.B.E., D.S.O. C.B.E. London Gazette 3.6.1919 Lt-Col. Reginald Edmund Maghlin Russell, D.S.O. (R.E.) (Egypt) D.S.O. London Gazette 29.10.1915 Major Reginald Edmund Maghlin Russell, Royal Engineers Order of the Medjidjieh London Gazette 5.5.1913 Captain Reginald Edmund Maghlin Russell, Royal Engineers Order of the Nile London Gazette 25.7.1916 Major Reginald Edmund Maghlin Russell, D.S.O., R.E., late Assistant Director of Intelligence, Egyptian Army Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus London Gazette 31.8.1917 Major (temporary Lieutenant-Colonel) Reginald Edmund Maghlin Russell, D.S.O., Royal Engineers Colonel Reginald Edmund Maghlin Russell, C.V.O., C.B.E., D.S.O. (1879-1950), born in Limerick, Ireland; educated at Cheltenham College; gazetted Royal Engineers from Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, 1898; posted to 46th Field Company Royal Engineers, 1900; Lieutenant, 1901; served in South Africa and invalided home; returned to South Africa with 38th Field Company, where he remained until 1905 (Mentioned in Despatches 23.6.1902l; 29.7.1902) in the same year Russell was posted to the Egyptian Army and assigned to the Sudan Goverment Railways-employed in the construction of the railway linking Port Sudan and Khartoum and later from Atbara towards the Red Sea; designed and began contruction of the Railway depot at Atbara 1906; Captain 1907; District Engineer and Railway Agent at Suakin; 1908-1910, Railway Agent at Alexandria; appointed Assistant Director of Intelligence, under Sir Lee Stack, 1910; in 1912 he was one of thirteen British Officers seconded to the Egyptian Army under Major Leveson, with a detachment of the 13th Sudanese Infantry on an expedition against the Adonga Anuak (medal and bar, gazetted Order of the Medjidieh 6.5.1913); appointed Assistant Director of Intelligence, Khartoum, 1913. Desert Operations On the outbreak of the Great War Russell was assigned to the Headquarters of the General Officer commanding Suez Canal Defences where one of his tasks was to design and construct an armoured train; appointed Major GSO2 to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, October 1914; a month later he was appointed as Staff Officer in charge of all the Engineering work on a 700 mile front where he remained the only R.E. Staff Officer at H.Q. Ismailia until he was relieved in June 1915 (D.S.O.); Temporary Lieutenant Colonel, GSO1 to the Western Frontier Force for the latter part of the Senuusi campaign (Western Desert), 1916 (Mentioned in Despatches 21.6.1916, 25.9.1916; Order of the Nile); later the same year appointed GSO1 to General Officer Commanding 52nd Lowland Division (Sinai); Chief Engineer Desert Column with rank of Temporary Brigadier General, 1917; involved in the planning of the two battles of Gaza 1917; planned attacks on the Turkish Desert Railway during May 1917, resulting in the destuction of some 50 Bridges and the cutting of more than 4,000 rails; Chief Engineer Desert Mounted Corps, involved in the planning of the attack on Beersheba, 1917; Russell designed electrical charges, 'Russell Charges', for the destruction of railway lines and these were used during the Arab Revolt in Hejaz and by Lawrence and his men in 1918. Russell was given a Temporary Commission in the newly formed Royal Air Force, 23.4.1918, and appointed GSO1 R.A.F. HQ Middle East; during this time he qualified as a pilot; appointed Wing Commander and given command of the new R.A.F. Depot at Uxbridge, 1919; resigned from R.A.F., 1920; re-joined the Royal Engineers and was sent on special duties with the Chilean Army 1921-22; Lieutenant Colonel in command of the Royal Engineer Training Battalion at Chatham, 1925; Substantive Colonel and returned to Chile as a Military Attaché also held same post in Brazil, 1927; during his four year period in office he accompanied the Prince of Wales on his tour of South America; retired 1931 and appointed a member of His Majesty's Bodyguard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms; at the outbreak of the Second World War he was re-employed as Military Attaché in Buenos Aires, where he served until 1943; before finally retiring from military service he joined the Admiralty's Yatchmen's Emergency Service and served on Motor Fishing Vessel No. 124 until August 1944.

Sold for
£3,000