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Auction: 7012 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 712

The Unique Naval and Military Group of Three to Lieutenant-General H.F. Davies, Grenadier Guards, Late Midshipman, Royal Navy; in March 1879 He Commanded the Drafts of the 24th Foot En-Route For South Africa in the Troop Transport Clyde Which Ran Onto Reefs and Sank; Commanded 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, 1880-85 India General Service 1854-95, one clasp, Pegu (Mr. H.F. Davies. Midshipman "Spartan"); Baltic 1854-55 (Mr. H.F. Davies. Midshipman. Boscawen.), contemporarily engraved in upright serif capitals; South Africa 1877-79, one clasp, 1879 (Colonel H.F. Davies. Gren: Guards.), good very fine, with the associated miniature awards, and photographic image of recipient (3) Estimate £ 4,000-4,500 Lieutenant-General Henry Fanshawe Davies (1837-1914), of Elmley Castle, Worcestershire; Midshipman Royal Navy 1852 and served with the Navy in the Burma War and in the Baltic; the family has a long history of association with the Grenadier Guards and with the death of his brother Lieutenant F.B. Davies in the trenches before Sebastopol (see lot 996), H.F. Davies resigned his Naval Commission and continued with the family tradition by taking a Lieutenancy in the Grenadier Guards in 1854; Captain 1857; advanced Colonel 1870; he sailed for the Cape, for service in the Zulu War, in March 1879 and commanded the drafts of the 24th Foot, on board the Troop Transport Clyde; which sank after running onto the reefs off Dyers Island; Davies was in charge of all the troops at the wreck, ensuring their eventual safety; arriving in South Africa he joined Major-General Newdigate´s Staff and was appointed Officer Commanding of an advanced depot at Conference Hill, May 1879 and was appointed Officer Commanding of Fort Newdigate, the advanced post for the assault on Ulundi (M.I.D. London Gazette 7.5.1879); Commanded the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, 1880-85; Major-General Commanding Cork District, 1889; Lieutenant-General 1893; retire 1898 and was made Honorary Colonel of the Lincolns, 1908. He is buried at Elmley Castle, near Evesham. Approximately 16 South Africa 1877-79 medals, all with ´1879´ clasp awards were issued to the Grenadier Guards. Davies was the Senior Officer present during the campaign.

Sold for
£4,200