The Great War M.C. group of ten miniature dress medals worn by Colonel H. J. D. Smythe, Royal Army Medical Corps

Military Cross, G.V.R.; 1914 Star; British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves; 1939-45 Star; Burma Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Coronation 1937; Territorial Decoration, G.V.R., with integral top riband bar, mounted as worn, very fine and better (10) £100-£140

Provenance: Glendining’s, November 1987.

M.C. London Gazette 2 April 1919.

Henry James Drew Smythe joined the Gloucestershire Hussars in 1910 as a Trooper. He was commissioned Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps (Territorial Force) on 18 July 1914, and served with the 3rd South Midland Field Ambulance during the Great War on the Western Front from 31 March 1915 (entitled to the 1914-15 Star, not 1914 Star), being Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 30 November 1915). Advanced acting Major, he was awarded the Military Cross for carrying out his medical duties in the face of enemy fire in Italy.

During the inter-War years Smythe served as Medical Officer to 66 Brigade Royal Artillery ,and the South Midland Royal Engineers, and was awarded the Territorial Decoration in June 1926. He served during the Second World War in command of a number of general hospitals in India and Burma, and was advanced Colonel on 13 January 1941.

Sold with the recipient’s two original Commission Documents, dated 21 July 1914 and 1 April 1927; original Mentioned in Despatches Certificate, dated 30 November 1915; two letters regarding his medal entitlement; and copied research.