Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Six: Superintendent Walter Kemish, a long-served detective in the Midland Railway Police who rose to the command of the Southern Division at St. Pancras - where he had charge when the Royal Train was travelling and was personally known to the King and Queen: he had earlier served in the Boer War in the Railway Pioneer Regiment and was awarded the Coronation Medal for representing his regiment in the celebrations of 1902

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (3111 C. Qr. Mr. Serjt. W. W. Kemish, Rly. Pnr. Regt.); Defence Medal 1939-45; Royal Victorian Medal, G.V.R., silver; Coronation 1902, bronze; Midland Railway Ambulance First Aid Rendered Medal, gold, the reverse officially engraved to ‘Walter W. Kemish’ for services at ‘Gloucester, May 16th 1903’; Midland Railway Ambulance First Aid Rendered Medal, silver, the reverse officially engraved to ‘Walter W. Kemish’ for services at ‘Weldon & Corby, March 26th 1906’, together with a quantity of related badges (10), including a pair of Midland Railway Corps uniform badges, gilt and enamel, and an ‘On War Service, 1915’ lapel badge, by J. R. Gaunt & Son, the reverse officially numbered ‘93234’, and a Civil Defence armband, the first four mounted court-style with new ribands but original wearing bar, the first with edge bruising and contact marks, nearly very fine, the remainder rather better (Lot) £350-400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Long Service Medals from the Collection formed by John Tamplin.

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Walter William Kemish was born in Hammersmith, London in January 1873 and appears to have enlisted in the Railway Pioneer Regiment in July 1901. Subsequently appointed a Company Quarter-Master Sergeant, and actively employed in South Africa, he was discharged in September 1902, after having represented his corps as a member of the Coronation Contingent. In the following month, he joined the Midland Railway Police, and was quickly promoted to Sergeant while stationed at Gloucester. Further postings and promotion ensued, namely to Detective Officer at Bristol, Detective Inspector at Bedford and Superintendent at Manchester, and in April 1912, he was appointed to the charge of the Central Division in Leicester. Taking command of the Southern Division at St. Pancras in March 1914, Kemish was responsible for Royal Trains, and was personally known to the King and Queen, services that no doubt resulted in the award of his Royal Victorian Medal in silver in February 1926, the year of his retirement - he had latterly been employed in Derby, following the amalgamation of the railways in early 1924. During his long and distinguished career, Kemish was commended on 10 occasions, once by the Common Sergeant at the Old Bailey, and also thanked by the Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Moreover, he had been awarded the Gold and Silver Medals of the Midland Railway Ambulance, the former for an incident at Gloucester Station on 16 May 1903, when a lady was seriously injured after falling from a departing train. Adding the Defence Medal to his accolades in the 1939-45 War, for his services in the Civil Defence, Kemish died at Biggleswade, Bedfordshire in February 1952, aged 79 years; sold with related research.