Ten: Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Cunliffe-Owen, C.M.G., Royal Artillery, soldier and diplomat who was appointed Military Attaché attached to the Greek Army during the Balkan Wars of 1912-13

Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, Somaliland 1902-04 (Major F. Cunliffe Owen, R.A.); 1914-15 Star (Lt. Col. F. Cunliffe-Owen. R.F.A.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Lt. Col. F. Cunliffe-Owen.); General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Iraq (Lt. Col. F. Cunliffe-Owen); Coronation 1911, unnamed; Serbia, Order of the White Eagle, 4th Class breast badge with swords, silver-gilt and enamels; Greece, Kingdom, Order of the Redeemer, 3rd Class neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels, with full neck cravat; Medal for Greco-Turkish War 1912-13, bronze, unnamed; Medal for Greco-Bulgarian War 1912-13, bronze, unnamed, mounted as worn except Redeemer neck badge; Redeemer with worn gilt and several chips to white enamel, White Eagle with minor chips to blue enamel, otherwise very fine or better (10) £1,400-£1,800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Simon C. Marriage Collection of Medals to the Artillery.

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Frederick Cunliffe-Owen was born on 27 November 1868, and was educated at Clifton College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He joined the army as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in February 1888, becoming Lieutenant in February 1891; Captain, April 1898; Major, September 1903; and Lieutenant-Colonel, October 1914.

He served in East Africa 1903-04, in operations in Somaliland, on the Staff as Special Service Officer and Field Intelligence Officer (Medal with Clasp). As a General Staff Officer 2nd Grade, he was appointed temporary Military Attaché with the Greek Forces from November 1912 to September 1913, and took part in the Balkan Wars of 1912-13. In November 1913 he was appointed Military Attaché to the British Embassy at Constantinople, Turkey, and for the nine months preceding the war he proved himself to be a particularly astute and conscientious officer. He had not only sent back the routine reports that were required of him, but had made a complete survey of the Gallipoli peninsula, reporting in full detail on gun sites, minefields, torpedo tubes, and even the smoke canisters that were later to cause such confusion during the naval battle of 18 March 1915. This information was ignored, as indeed was Cunliffe-Owen himself, and official quarters remained totally indifferent to both throughout the campaign. Apparently neither he nor his files of detailed information were ever consulted.

During the Great War he served on the Staff in Greek Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, European Turkey and the Islands of the Aegean Sea, from October 1915 to July 1917, including Gallipoli, July to October 1915; Egypt, November to December 1914; Mesopotamia, August 1917 to June 1918, and 9 to 31 October 1918 (C.M.G. 1916; Despatches 13 July and 6 December, 1916, 21 July 1917, and 31 October 1918). He served in operations in Iraq in 1920 (Despatches; Medal with Clasp), and was employed under the Civil Administration, Mesopotamia, from August 1919 to September 1921, as Director of Repatriation. He retired from the Army in 1923 and was afterwards a Member of the Refugee Settlement Committee, Greece, 1923-26. Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Cunliffe-Owen, C.M.G., died in London on 10 June 1946, aged 78.

Sold with research.

For the recipient’s related miniature awards, see the following lot (Lot 108).