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Auction: 8016 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 18

A Highly Unusual and Scarce Campaign Group of Five to Colour Sergeant G. Gwynn, Imperial Light Infantry, Late Lieutenant Royal Navy Egypt 1882-89, dated, no clasp (G.S.P. Gwynn. Midn. R.N. H.M.S. "Agincourt."); East and West Africa 1887-1900, one clasp, 1891-2 (Lieut. G.S.P. Gwynn R.N., H.M.S. Widgeon.); Cape of Good Hope General Service 1880-97, one clasp, Bechuanaland (Lce. Cpl. G. Gwynn. Kim. Rifs.); Queen´s South Africa 1899-1902, seven clasps, Cape Colony, Tugela Heights, Orange Free State, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal, Laing´s Nek, South Africa 1901 (12 Clr: Serjt: G. Gwynn. Impl: Lt. Infy.); Khedive´s Star 1882, unnamed as issued, verdigris to last, generally very fine or better (5) Estimate £ 900-1,100 Graham Samuel Philpot Gwynn joined the Royal Navy as Cadet, 1879; Midshipman May 1881, and served in H.M.S. Agincourt off the coast of Egypt, 1882; in October of the same year he was appointed to H.M.S. Audacious (flag-ship of the China squadron); three years later he returned to the UK, to attend courses at the Naval College, and was subsequently promoted Sub Lieutenant and appointed as Navigating Officer of the gunboat Albercore in the Mediterranean; Lieutenant December 1888; served for six months in the sailing brig Sealark which was a tender to the Boys Training Ship Lion at Devonport; after another training post he was appointed to the gun boat H.M.S. Widgeon on the Cape Station, May 1890; he served ashore with the Naval Brigade, January 1892, during the punitive expedition in Gambia; Gwynn served in both H.M.S. Iron Duke and Galatea on Coast Guard duty at Queensferry in the Firth of Forth, 1893; the following three years appeared to be unhappy ones for Gwynn, in 1895 whilst serving in H.M.S. Thunderer on the Sheerness station he was court-martialled for being absent without leave he was adjudged to forfeit one and a half years seniority as Lieutenant and to be dismissed from his ship; and in March 1896 he went one step further whilst serving in H.M.S. Victor Emmanuel, on the China Station, when he pleaded guilty to an act to the prejudice of good and Naval discipline in drinking intoxicating liquors to such an excess as to produce illness, as a result he was dismissed from the Her Majesty´´s service; here we assume that whilst seeking passage home, disgraced and knowing no other profession, that he passed through Cape Town and decided to try his luck on dry land with the Kimberley Rifles in Bechuanaland a conflict which was to start only months after his dismissal; his attestation papers for the Imperial Light Infantry give Graham Gywnn as having served in the ´´R.N.´´; during the Boer War he served with both the Imperial Light Infantry and Kitchener´´s Fighting Scouts. Approximately 50 ´´1891-2´´ clasp awards to H.M.S. Widgeon.

Sold for
£1,400