The Allan and Janet Woodliffe Collection of Medals Relating to the Reconquest and Pacification of the Sudan

The Great War D.S.O. group of five awarded to Colonel B. W. Y. Danford, Royal Engineers, who took part in the Talodi expedition and commanded a Tunnelling Company in the Great War, becoming Inspector of Mines on the Western Front: he was shot and badly wounded in 1920, while trying to escape after being kidnapped by the I.R.A., along with General Lucas

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R.; 1914 Star, with clasp (Major B. W. Y. Danford, R.E.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaf (Lt. Col. B. W. Y. Danford); Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, 1 clasp, Talodi, unnamed, mounted court style, good very fine (5) £2000-2500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Allan and Janet Woodliffe Collection of Medals relating to the Reconquest and Pacification of The Sudan 1896-1956.

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D.S.O. London Gazette 3 June 1916.

M.I.D. London Gazette 22 June 1915; 1 January 1916; 15 June 1916; 11 December 1917.

Bertram William Young Danford was born on 6 June 1875. He was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Engineers, on 17 August 1894, becoming Lieutenant in August 1897, and Captain in April 1904.

He was seconded to the Egyptian Army on 6 April 1905, where he became Assistant Director of Military Works, Sudan. Following the defeat of the Khalifa, Khartoum was rebuilt by a department of works administered by Royal Engineers, and Omdurman city was cleansed and improved. A small unit of Mechanical Transport was formed by Danford.

In the summer of 1905, he was attached to a small mixed force which was sent from El Obeid to suppress a revolt at Talodi, in the turbulent area known as the Nuba Mountains, against the Abu Rufas. The expedition was under the Command of Captain (Local Major) J. R. O’Connel, with seven other British Officers, 380 Camelry and 150 men of the XIIth Sudanese Infantry. They left El Obeid on 2 June, reached Talodi on the 12th and finally put an end to the uprising at Eliri on the 15th.

Danford was based in Kordofan province from January 1906 to June 1907, and was appointed Assistant Director of Military Works in January 1907, when the Military and Public Works departments were split. During his later time in Khartoum great strides were made in rebuilding the place with a considerable amount being achieved before he returned to the home establishment in April 1910.

As a Major, Danford served as Adjutant, H.Q. 6th Division from 5 August 1914 until 18 March 1915, seeing service in France, after which time he took Command of the newly formed 174th Tunnelling Company and went into action almost at once at Houplines, in the III Corps area. At first most of their work was defensive, designed to keep German miners at a healthy distance. During this time 174 Company had several encounters with the enemy. In May 1915 they had some exciting moments in the Ploegsteert sector when the enemy fired a mine which damaged one of their galleries, cutting off nine men who were working near the face.

Rescue was soon put in hand by Danford, with short shifts of men working at top pressure. Fortunately, the armoured hose pipe had not been damaged by the explosion, which meant that not only could a supply of air to the entombed men be maintained, but their morale was kept up by the use of the pipe as a speaking tube, telling confidently of the desperate efforts of their comrades to rescue them. Thus encouraged, they themselves worked valiantly from their end. The gallery was a mess of broken timbers, but after thirty six hours, over 100 feet had been repaired or re-driven, while the entombed men had cleared no less than 30 feet. Hungry, but otherwise unhurt, all the nine men were liberated and after a night’s rest took up their normal place in the next shift.

On 24 July 1915, Danford and his Company moved to the Somme Front and established Headquarters at Bray. He took over from the French no less than 66 shafts at Carnoy, Fricourt, Maricourt and Le Boisselle, and received a warm reception from the enemy, who could be heard plainly at work all around. The enemy was particularly active in these sectors and very aggressive, constantly firing camouflets, which usually succeeded in destroying not only the galleries, but shafts also.

On 1 January 1916, Danford was appointed Controller of Mines with the Third Army, directly responsible to the inspector of mines. He was badly injured in a motor vehicle accident at St. Pol when, on 3 May ‘while motoring on duty, the back axle of his car smashed and he was flung out [and his] olecranon [elbow] was fractured in 3 places.’ He was consequently away from duty for about 3 months.

Danford was made brevet Lieutenant-Colonel on 1 January 1918, and on 4 April was given the special appointment (A.Q.M.G.) and (Class X) Assistant Inspector of Mines, British Army in France. For his services during the war he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, and was four times mentioned in despatches.

After the war Danford served in Ireland as C.R.E., 16th Infantry Brigade. On 26 June 1920, the I.R.A. (Sinn Fein) captured Brigadier-General Lucas along with Colonels Danford and Tyrrell, while they was on a fishing holiday at Castletownroche, near Fermoy. The General’s capture was described as follows in The Times on 28 June 1920:

‘The raiders, who had arrived in two motorcars, took possession of General Lucas’s car and set off with their prisoners in the direction of Cork. Soon afterwards Colonel Danford made a courageous but unsuccessful attempt to escape. The prisoners had not been bound in any way, and, seizing a moment when his captors’ eyes were not upon him, he jumped out and ran in a direction opposite to that in which the cars were travelling at a fairly high speed. There was an order to halt, and the republicans opened fire on Colonel Danford, who after a few rounds fell prostrate on the highway with serious wounds in the head and shoulder. Observing his serious condition, the raiders took counsel and decided to liberate Colonel Tyrrell, so that he could attend to his wounded fellow-officer. The raiders left them on the roadside and drove away with General Lucas to an unknown destination, which in republican parlance means an improvised prison. Colonels Tyrrell and Danford were discovered some hours later and taken to the military hospital at Fermoy. Military and police are scouring the district, but at the time of writing, no news is to hand of General Lucas or of his audacious captors’.

In the event, on 31 July, The Times was able to report that General Lucas had managed to remove the bars from the window of his room and effect an escape. Rain fell in torrents throughout the night and the general had great difficulty in making his way through the fields and hedges but, after further adventures, the intrepid escaper found his way to the safety of Pallas Green R.I.C. Barracks.

Danford was taken to Fermoy hospital seriously injured, having a gunshot wound both to the right arm and to the head, where the bullet passed through his face near the right eye, leading to paralysis of the face. However, he responded well to treatment, and was back on duty within six months. Appointed Colonel on 17 June 1925, Danford was appointed Chief Engineer, Egypt, from 23 March 1927, until his retirement on 22 April 1930. Colonel Danford died on 11 March 1949, at the age of 74.

With a folder containing copied research.