A Great War C.M.G., 1915 operations D.S.O. group of five awarded to Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel C. B. O. Symons, Royal Engineers

The Order of St. Michael and St. George, C.M.G., neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels; Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel; 1914 Star, with clasp (Capt., R.E.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Lt. Col.) enamel work slightly chipped in places, good very fine or better (5) £600-800

C.M.G. London Gazette 1 January 1919.

D.S.O. London Gazette 23 June 1915.

M.I.D. London Gazette 17 February 1915; 22 June 1915; 11 December 1917 and 20 December 1918.

Charles Bertie Owen Symons was born in November 1874, eldest son of Colonel C. E. H. Symons of Colombo. Educated at Trent College, Derbyshire, he entered the Royal Engineers in October 1894, and was advanced to Lieutenant in October 1897 and to Captain in April 1904. Employed on survey duty on the Gold Coast between 1905-07, Symons was serving back in the U.K. with 18 Division, R.E. by the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914. Arriving in France with No. 7 Field Company, R.E. in the following month, he remained there on active service until January 1916, during which period he was wounded on at least one occasion. In addition to being awarded the C.M.G. and D.S.O., Symons was also four times mentioned in despatches and given the Brevet of Colonel in January 1918. He married, in the latter year, Sylvia, second daughter of Charles Lenox-Simpson, onetime the Senior Commissioner in China.