A post-war M.B.E. group of seven awarded to Major A. D. C. Eales, Hadhrami Bedouin Legion, late 4/9th Jat Regiment and Middlesex Regiment, who was shot and killed by one of his own men whilst serving in South Arabia in June 1965

The Most Excellent Order of The British Empire M.B.E. (Civil Division) Member’s type 2 breast badge; 1939-45 Star; Burma Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; General Service 1918-62, 4 clasps, S.E. Asia 1945-46, Cyprus, Near East, Arabian Peninsula (Major A.D.C. Eales, I.A.); Arabian States, Sultanate of Qu’aiti, Order of Distinction (Distinguished Service Medal), obverse: the bust of Sultan Salih bin Ghalib of Qu’aiti, reverse: the arms of the Sultanate, 37mm., silver, on ‘military’ riband, mounted court-style as worn, good very fine and better (7) £1800-2200

M.B.E. London Gazette 2 June 1962.

Arthur David Charles Eales was born in Teddington, Middlesex in May 1922 and enlisted in the Royal Scots in September 1940. Subsequently commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the 4/9th Jat regiment in September 1941, he witnessed active service in the Machine-Gun Battalion in Burma 1944-45 and in French Indo-China 1946-47.

Having then transferred to the Middlesex Regiment and been advanced to Captain, he served in the Sudan in the early-to-mid 1950s, latterly as A.D.C. and Assistant Private Secretary to the Governor-General, and in Cyprus and the Near East in the period 1956-58.

In September of the latter year, he was appointed a Training Officer, East Aden Protectorate and, having been granted the honorary rank of Major when placed on the Retired List in December 1959, he continued to be employed by the Government of Aden; hence his award of the ‘Arabian D.S.M.’ for his services in operations in 1962, the same year in which he was awarded his M.B.E.

At the time of his death on 14 June 1965, he was serving as Second-in-Command of the Hadhrami Bedouin Legion. According to one press report, he was out on patrol in Mahra State in South Arabia, when one of his men, who had recently faced a Court Martial and been reduced in rank, shot him dead in his quarters.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s M.B.E. warrant, with related Statutes and Central Chancery letter; ‘Arabian D.S.M.’ certificate of award, with related letters; his commission warrants for the ranks of 2nd Lieutenant, Indian Army, dated 19 December 1941 and Lieutenant, Middlesex Regiment, dated 21 January 1947; a Christmas card for 1954, signed by Haile Selassie; a copy of India’s Army, by Major Donovan Jackson, with ink inscription, ‘Major A. D. C. Eales, M.G. Bn., The Jat Regt., Bareilly U.P., January 1947’; a letter of condolence from Lieutenant-Colonel J. W. G. Gray, Hadhrami Bedouin Legion, dated 19 June 1965, and several photographs covering the recipient’s funeral and burial with full military honours; together with a quantity of 9th Jat regimental buttons.

Also see Lot 964 for the recipient’s miniature dress medals.