An Omdurman Charger’s D.C.M. group of three awarded to Lance-Corporal Harold Penn, 21st Lancers, for his gallantry in helping to bring a wounded man out of action, 2 September 1898

Distinguished Conduct Medal, V.R. (Lce. Cpl. H. D. Penn. 21/Lancers./ 2nd Sept: 1898.); Queen’s Sudan 1896-98 (3613. Lc. Cpl. H. Penn. 21/Lancers.); Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, 1 clasp, Khartoum (3613 Pte. H. Penn 21st Lrs) together with a 21st Lancers cap badge, suspension re-fixed on the first two, minor edge bruise to first, contact wear, about very fine (3) £8,000-£10,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Warwick Cary.

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Provenance: J. B. Hayward Collection of Distinguished Conduct Medals, Hayward’s Gazette, May 1979; Dix Noonan Webb, November 1996.

D.C.M. London Gazette 15 November 1898. Awarded for the Battle of Omdurman, 2 September, 1898. Special instances of gallant conduct “At the Battle of Khartoum 2nd September 1898, assisting Private Ayton, 21st Lancers, to bring a wounded man out of action” (Ref Cavalry Record Office, Canterbury).

Harold Dunstan Penn was born at Ootacamund, Madras, in July 1876. He attested for the 21st Hussars as a Boy on 1 May 1893, at Secunderabad, being appointed Trumpeter four days later, reverting to Private in March 1894. He was appointed Lance Corporal on 11 June 1898, and Sergeant on 23 January 1901. Harold Penn rode with “A” Squadron in the historic charge at Omdurman, the squadron commanded by Major Finn with Lieutenant Winston Churchill as one of its Troop Commanders.

Perhaps the best known single episode of the Sudan campaigns, the charge of the 21st Lancers at the Battle of Omdurman has undoubtedly been given extra significance due to the participation in it and description of it by Winston Churchill. This titan of the twentieth century would later write: ‘‘The two or three thousand Dervishes who faced the 21st Lancers in the watercourse at Omdurman were not in the least shaken by the stress of battle or afraid of cavalry... They were familiar with the ordeal of the charge. It was the kind of fighting they thoroughly understood. Moreover, the fight was with equal weapons, for the British too fought with sword and lance as in the days of old”.

At about 8:00 a.m. on 2 September 1898, under the command of Colonel R. H. Martin, the 21st Lancers were ordered forward with orders to harass the remnants of the retreating dervishes and prevent them from re-grouping at Omdurman, Kitchener wishing to avoid having to lay siege to a defended city and the risk of costly street fighting.

‘Martin was unfortunate that in his path was the only remaining Mahdist commander with any military wisdom of tactical ability. Osman Digna’s small residual force consisted of about seven hundred poorly armed Hadendowa, who had not only broken the square at Tamai but had specialised in chopping up British cavalry. Hoping for just such an opportunity, Osman had sought and obtained reinforcements from Black Standard. These he concealed, along with most of his men, in the Khor Abu Sunt, a dry watercourse...So exposing a thin line of men along a northern edge of the khor to full view, Osman lured Martin into a trap, one which an experienced Egyptian cavalry officer would have immediately recognised.

The rest has been vividly described by Churchill and others. The charge against an apparently thin ragged line, the shock of the last-second realisation of the trick, the brief ferocious hand-to-hand fighting in the knor, the frightful wounds inflicted on men and horses by sword and spear, the fierce courage of a people fighting their last battle, matched by the heroism of men like Kenna, de Montmorency, and Byrne, who, having cut their way through the carnage, returned to it to save their stricken comrades. In these few moments, 40% of all the British casualties in the battle were sustained; one officer, Lieutenant Grenfell, a nephew of the former Sirdar, and twenty men were dead and fifty officers and men were wounded, some horribly. Over one hundred and twenty horses were were killed, lost or had to be destroyed.’ (A Handful of Dust by Henry Keown-Boyd.)

Of the seven D.C.M.’s won by the Regiment in this campaign, three went to “A” Squadron who played a prominent part in the charge. Private B. Ayton, with whom Penn rescued the wounded man, rode with “C” Squadron and was also awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

Sold with copied research.