An interesting post-War B.E.M. group of six awarded to Constable H. Ward, Eastbourne Borough Police, late Royal Horse Guards, ‘The Downs Ranger’, who patrolled on horseback above Beachy Head, South Downs, from 1953 to 1966

British Empire Medal, (Civil) E.II.R. (Harry Ward); 1939-45 Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Police L.S. & G.C., E.II.R., 2nd issue (Const. Harry Ward); Army Emergency Reserve Decoration, E.II.R., reverse officially dated 1955, with integral top riband bar, court mounted for display, very fine (6) £300-£400

Harry Ward was born in Darwen, Lancashire in 1912. He attested, aged 16, into the Royal Horse Guards as a Trooper in 1928, being discharged in 1936 afterwards joining Eastbourne Borough Police on 22 August 1936. Recalled to the Colours on the outbreak of the Second World War, he rejoined his old regiment and was on an Officer’s training course in Lille, France when orders were received to evacuate to Dunkirk. Commissioned into the Royal Artillery on 2 August 1942, he served with the Coastal Artillery Regiment at Dover and Deal. By 1945 he had transferred into the Royal Military Police and was serving with the Special Investigation Branch, where he was advanced Major before his discharge in 1946.

Returning to Eastbourne Borough Police, he served as a Captain in the Royal Military Police Special Investigation Branch of the Army Emergency Reserve and was awarded the Efficiency Decoration in 1955. Advanced Major in 1959, he had been appointed ‘Downs Ranger’ on 16 November 1953, where his duties included patrolling Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, and the surrounding 5,000 acres of the South Downs on horseback. In the course of his work carrying out numerous cliff top rescues from the infamous suicide drop, he developed a special stretcher for the recovery of remains from the cliff and received many testimonials from the RSPCA for his work involved in the rescue of dogs. Awarded the British Empire Medal in the 1964 New Year’s Honours’ List, an interview of the recipient discussing his work on cliff rescues appears in the British Pathe news archive. Retiring after 30 years’ service on 21 August 1966, he became an Ambulance Driver before his death in 1974.

Sold with a large amount of very detailed research, Soldier’s Service Book, original and copy photographs and a composite copy of a Bronze Plaque erected in his honour, the original of which is sited at Beachy Head, Sussex, from where he conducted many rescues and recoveries.