Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Anna Harrison Francis, neé Ward, Order of St. John of Jerusalem
British War and Victory Medals (A. H. Ward, O. of St. John.)

Defence Medal, unnamed, extremely fine (4) £50-70

Anna Harrison Ward was born in Woodbrook, Ireland on 22 April 1886. She landed in France on 14 July 1916 and served in a Brigade Hospital of the Order of St. John. She married Lawrence Edmund Francis, M.C. at St. Mary’s Church, Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, in March 1923. With damaged British Red Cross Society/Order of St. John of Jerusalem letter to accompany the medals, dated 10 January 1922 and photograph of the recipient in uniform; together with copied m.i.c., extract from The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser and other details. See lot 788 for her husband’s medals.

Defence Medal awarded to Geoffrey Neville Francis, the son of Lawrence Edmund Francis and Anna Harrison Ward. Born in Butterworth, Penang, Malaya on 21 March 1924. Medal sent to him at Canterbury, Kent where he lived after the war. With Middlesex Regiment cap badge which he wore when in the Home Guard. Aged 15 when the war began, he was medically unfit for the army and joined the Home Guard fairly late on. He became a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and died on 10 February 1978. Medal with named card forwarding box and associated slip; and cap badge.