Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An unusual O. St. J. group of seventeen awarded to Hon. Lieutenant-Colonel N. W. Hammer, Royal Army Medical Corps, late Royal Artillery, a long-served Territorial who also served as a Medical Adviser to the A.R.P. service

The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Officer‘s (Brother’s) breast badge, silvered base metal; British War and Victory Medals (149389 Bmbr. N. W. Hammer, R.A.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals, M.I.D.oak leaf; Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937; Efficiency Decoration, G.VI.R., Territorial, the reverse dated ‘1949’; Territorial Force Efficiency Medal, G.V.R., naming erased; St. John Service Medal, one Bar (18505 C. Sgn. N. W. Hammer, Dis. H.Q. Staff, No. 1 Dis. S.J.A.B., 1938); League of Mercy, breast badge, silver-gilt and enamel; France, Palmes Academique, silver and enamel; France, Medaille de la Reconnaissance; France, Croix de Guerre 1939, this last of later manufacture, enamel work slightly chipped in places, generally good very fine (17) £200-250

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of British Groups with Foreign Awards.

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Norman William Hammer, who was born in Clapton in November 1898 and was educated at Mercers’ School, served as a Bombardier in the Royal Garrison Artillery out in France and Flanders from December 1917 until the War’s end.

Afterwards studying medicine at the University of London and Middlesex Hospital Medical School, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the R.A.M.C. (Territorials) in July 1924 and advanced to Captain in January 1928 and to Major in October 1935, while also serving as a Surgeon in the St. John Ambulance Brigade, in which capacity, according to an accompanying copied T.A. service record, he was awarded the Coronation Medal in 1937 and the Serving Brother’s - not Officer’s - insignia of the Order of St. John (London Gazette 23 June 1939 refers), in addition to the Service Medal, but no confirmation has been found for the Jubilee 1935 Medal, nor indeed for his subsequent award of the Efficiency Decoration or awards.

During the 1939-45 War, and having served as a member of the Chemical Defence Committee and fellow of the Air Raid Protection Institute in the 1930s, and published A Catechism of Air Raid Precautions, he was embarked for the Middle East and served in that theatre of war from March until November 1943, and was granted the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel on relinquishing his commission on account of ill-health (London Gazette 12 May 1944 refers): his copied service record confirms his entitlement to the Africa Star, but not that for Italy, or a mention in despatches.

Post-war, Hammer served in the Army Cadet Force in Middlesex and was awarded the Army Cadet Forces Medal (London Gazette 29 May 1962 refers). He died in September 1965.