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Auction: 8023 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 12

The K.C.M.G. Set of Insignia Attributed to Sir A.S.J. Block, President of the British Chamber of Commerce, Constantinople, 1907-18 The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, Knight Commander´s (K.C.M.G.) set of Insignia, neck Badge, 93mm including crown suspension x 73mm, silver-gilt and enamel; Star, 81mm, silver, silver-gilt, gold, and enamel, with gold retaining pin, minor enamel damage to reverse central medallion of neck badge, otherwise about extremely fine, with full neck riband, in Garrard, London, case of issue, with two photographs of the recipient with H.M. Queen Mary (2) Estimate £ 800-1,000 K.C.M.G. London Gazette 28.6.1907 Adam Samuel James Block, Esq., C.M.G., Representative of British and Dutch Bondholders on the Council of the Ottoman Debt. C.M.G. London Gazette 5.7.1895 Adam Samuel James Block, Esq., Chief Dragoman to her Majesty´´s Embassy at Constantinople. Sir Adam Samuel James Block, K.C.M.G., (1856-1941), born Lucknow, India; educated at Clifton College; Appointed Student Interpreter, H.M. Embassy, Constantinople, 1877; Interpreter, 1880; Appointed Vice-Consul, Beirut, 1882; Damascus, 1883; Constantinople, 1885; Consul, 1890; First Dragoman, 1894; Secretary of Legation, 1902; Appointed by the Council of Foreign Bondholders to represent British Bondholders on the Council of Administration of the Ottoman Public Debt, Constantinople, 1903; President of the British Chamber of Commerce, Constantinople, 1907-18; on the outbreak of the Great War was Chairman of the Admiralty Sub-Committee at the War Trade Department, and Head of the Finance Section of the Foreign Trade Department; later appointed Controller of the Finance Section of the Ministry of Blockade, and Vice-Chairman of Constantinople Telephone Company. Awarded the First Class of the Order of Osmania with Diamonds by the Sultan of Turkey for services rendered, and the First Class of the Order of St. Anne for services rendered to Russia in connection with the War. In later years he was a good shot, and often went out with King George V. ´´Mutiny Baby´´ Born in Lucknow just before the outbreak of the Great Sepoy Mutiny, in which his father, Adam H.G. Block, of the Indian Civil Service, was an early casualty, Sir Adam probably owed his life to the devotion of an ayah who smuggled him to safety and took him to live among her own people, staining his skin and passing him off as a native infant. The disguise was never detected, and after the relief of Lucknow she made her way to the Residency. There she had some difficulty at first in convincing the British authorities that the dark-skinned baby was a Burra-Sahib, but a thorough wash proved the truth of her story, and Sir Adam was reunited with his mother, who had survived the Mutiny. (Bradford Daily Argus, 23.3.1922 refers) For Sir Adam Block´´s foreign awards please see Lots 448 and 457.

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£1,200