Three: Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel H. F. Campbell, Rifle Brigade

1914-15 Star (Lieut., Rif. Brig.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaf (Major); Defence and War Medals 1939-45, good very fine or better (5) £140-160

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Fine Collection of of Great War Medals to the Rifle Brigade.

View
Collection

Despatches three times London Gazette 15 August 1917, 27 August 1918 and 5 June 1919

Henry Fitzherbert Campbell was educated at Eton and Sandhurst and commissioned in the Rifle Brigade in 1910. On the outbreak of war he was commanding the Machine Gun Section of the 4th Bn. and crossed to France on 20 December 1914. He was seriously wounded in the face near Boesinghe during the first German gas attack at Ypres, 25 April 1915. Upon recovery he was posted to the 1st Bn. in France in July 1915 until appointed 11th Brigade Machine Gun Officer in September 1915. A year later he assumed command of 129 Company, Machine Gun Corps as a Major and took it to Mesopotamia, remaining in command until August 1918 when he became Commandant of the M.G.C. Training Centre at Bagdhad. As well as three Mentions he was rewarded with a Brevet Majority, 1 January 1919. Campbell returned to the 4th Rifle Brigade and served in India, 1919-22, then as adjutant of the 1st Monmouthshire Regiment 1923-26 and various staff and regimental appointments until he retired in 1935, having been promoted to Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel in 1934. He was re-employed on the staff in 1939 and died at Oxford in 1943. A bachelor regimental officer, “He always appeared to be the embodiment of physical fitness and gave one the impression of being as hard as could be. Discomfort meant absolutely nothing to him, and he seemed to carry the life of self-denial almost to excess.” (RB Chronicle 1943).

Sold with several copy group photos, see picture above lot 229.