Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A scarce and well documented Great War ‘cavalry’ D.S.O. group of ten awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel H. J. Williams, 1st King’s Dragoon Guards and 1/1 Worcestershire Yeomanry. A veteran of the Boer War, he was taken prisoner at Hammilfontein 14 February 1901, before being appointed Regimental Aide de Camp to Emperor Franz Joseph - Colonel in Chief of the KDG. During the Great War Williams commanded the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards, in France, October 1915 - May 1916; and 1/1 Worcestershire Yeomanry, over the desert and mountains of Palestine, September 1916 - October 1918. After the War he commanded the KDG in Iraq, 1919-21, during which time he compiled and edited the Regimental History

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Capt. H. J. Williams, 1/Drgn: Gds) last two clasps, contemporary tailor’s copies; 1914 Star (Major H. J. Williams. 1/D. Gds.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oak Leaves (Lt. Col. H. J. Williams.); General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Iraq (Lt. Col. H. J. Williams.) partially officially corrected; Delhi Durbar 1911, unnamed as issued; Austria, Empire, Order of the Iron Crown, 3rd Class breast badge by Rothe, Vienna, gold and enamel, lacking iron crown insert, with blue enamel damage; Order of Franz Joseph, Civil Division, 3rd Class neck badge by Winc Mayer’s Söne, Vienna, gold and enamel; Franz Joseph Jubilee Medal 1908, silver, minor edge bruising, otherwise very fine or better, unless otherwise stated (10) £3400-3800

D.S.O. London Gazette 4 June 1917.

M.I.D. London Gazette 6 July 1917 and 12 January 1918.

Henry John Williams was born in 1870, and was the second son of E. A. G. Williams. He was educated at Uppingham, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant, 1st King’s Dragoon Guards, in March 1891. He advanced to Lieutenant in March 1893, and Captain in September 1898. Williams served with the Regiment during the Second Boer War, and was present in operations in the Transvaal, Orange River Colony and Cape Colony.

The 1st King’s Dragoon Guards arrived in South Africa in January 1901, and Williams was taken prisoner of war at Hammilfontein during the pursuit of De Wet, 14 February 1901, ‘it [1 KDG] formed part of the column concentrated at Naaupoort, O.F.S. under the command of Colonel E. C. Bethune, and was occupied in pursuit of De Wet, who laagered at De-Put on the 13th February, 1901, where late in the afternoon he was unearthed by Plumer. The rain continued to fall all that night and next day - both sides halted knee deep in water.

On the 14th Plumer attacked the Burghers, being contained in front by the King’s Dragoon Guards and Imperial Light Horse. The position was turned westwards, the Boers followed their transport around to Bas-Berg, pursuit being shortly foiled by another storm which laid tracks two feet deep in mud.’ (1st King’s Dragoon Guards 1685-1920 - compiled and edited by the recipient, refers).

After the Boer War, Williams served as Regimental Aide de Camp to Emperor Franz Joseph (who was appointed Colonel of the 1st KDG in 1896), at his Court in Vienna (Order of the Iron Crown 1904; Order of Franz Joseph 1907). During his time at Court he struck up a friendship with Archduke Franz Ferdinand. He was promoted Major in June 1906, and served during the Great War with the Regiment in the French theatre of war from November 1914. The 1st King’s Dragoon Guards served as part of the Lucknow Cavalry Brigade, and on 9 January 1915 they served in the trenches at Festubert, ‘the Regiment took over trenches from the 17th Lancers about midnight, holding front line and support trenches with two squadrons, the remaining two squadrons being kept in reserve in the village.

The trenches were in most places flooded breast high and the communication trenches were under water. The enemy’s trenches were from 70 to 150 yards distant. On the 11th January at 4am, the evacuation of the front line trenches was ordered, the water being by then up to the men’s armpits, and many men having become exhausted from long exposure.

At 7.15pm the Brigade was relieved by the Mhow Brigade, the Inniskillings taking over the posts held by the Regiment, which marched back to Bethune and thence returned to Lisbourg by motor bus.’ (Ibid).

Between 9 - 11 January 1915, the Regiment suffered 1 man died of wounds, 6 wounded, and 2 officers and 80 men were evacuated sick owing to exposure. The 1st King’s Dragoon Guards fought at Hooge, 31 May - 3 June 1915, and in the trenches at Authuille, August - September 1915. Williams advanced to Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel, and assumed command of the Regiment at Bernaville, 16 October 1915. Lieutenant-Colonel Wickham returned to the command of the Regiment in May 1916, and Williams was appointed to the command of the Worcestershire Yeomanry in Palestine, on 10 September 1916.

Egyptian Expeditionary Force - Cavalry in the Desert

The Regiment was based at Bayud in November 1916, ‘hostile aeroplanes flew over the camp at Bayud on most days, but, except one occasion, they reserved their bombs for El Abd and the railhead, where they were shot at but undisturbed by several antiquated anti-aircraft guns. In the middle of the morning of November 11th, an enemy aeroplane flew low over the camp and proceeded to drop bombs in the middle of it, just as the Colonel [Williams] was explaining to two R.E. officers of the water survey how and why the enemy never troubled the camp at Bayud with bombs. By a miracle neither man nor horse was touched, though there were several very narrow escapes.’ (The Yeomanry Cavalry of Worcestershire 1914-1922, refers)

Williams led his regiment as part of the Desert Column, Egyptian Expeditionary Force, against the Turks at the Battle of Rafa, 9 January 1917:

‘Preparations were now in full train for another cavalry raid, this time on the Turkish entrenched post at Rafa, some miles away to the east on the Turkish-Egyptian frontier. It was known that here the enemy had established a heavily entrenched position which he was holding with some 3,000 infantry and two or three Krupp mountain batteries.....

Just as the troops were all saddled up and ready to move, an enemy aeroplane came over to look for signs of unusual activity. Fortunately he saw none though he was only a quarter of an hour too early. The start was made at 4 in the afternoon of January 8th, with the Regiment leading and providing the advance guard.... The night ride was long and uneventful and it was not until Sheikh Zowaid was reached, twenty-two miles from El Arish, that a halt was called at 9pm to feed and off-saddle the horses. “D” Squadron found the outpost line, while “A” drew a cordon round the village to prevent any of the inhabitants leaving it to give warning to the Turks, 8 miles away, of the approach of the cavalry....

Before two in the morning the force was again on the move to its positions of attack south and south-east of Rafa.... The Turkish position at Rafa was situated round a low hill known as 255 about a mile to the south-west of the police post and barracks... The main works were on the hill, the approaches to which were gentle slopes bare of all cover for about half a mile, and all around was flat ground for quite two miles except where the sand-dunes approached on the northern side. The slopes were well entrenched on all sides, and many machine-gun pits had been dug which enfiladed the approaches. The defences had originally been designed to contain a much larger garrison than now was found in them and were drawn in three lines. The outer line was roughly the shape of a segment of a circle facing west along the road to El-Arish, south and south-east, and consisted of well-dug trenches and some small redoubts. Owing to the lack of men or the surprise of the attack, this outer line was not manned on January 9th, and the opposition came from the second inner line, 300 yards in rear of the outer, and much stronger, particularly, as might be expected, those systems which faced west and south. This line was connected with the third comprising the hill-top, by a long communication trench, which gave some trouble to the Regiment later in the day. The third line, again some 300 yards in rear of the second, encircled the crest of the hill itself. In forming it the whole hill-top had been dug into by the Turks, making a criss-cross series of entrenchments and communications and turning the hill into a formidable redoubt.’ (Ibid)

The Squadrons of the Worcestershire Yeomanry were initially deployed separately, fulfilling various roles including acting as escort to the HAC Battery and the machine-gun section. Williams on his horse Ishmael, gathered “A” Squadron, ‘just in time to take part in an exhilarating gallop by the whole Brigade towards the enemy entrenchments. It covered a considerable distance before the leading regiment, the Warwicks [Yeomanry], were held up by machine gun fire, when they developed a steady dismounted attack, co-operating with the Camel Corps on their right, which employed them for the rest of the day. The Gloucesters [Yeomanry], with the two troops of “A” slewed further north and came into action just south of the Rafa-Sheikh Zowaid road in positions where they found no protection from the enemy machine-gun fire and so could make no headway....”D” Squadron arrived from Sheikh Zowaid soon after 8 and followed the Gloucesters into the sandhills, where it was joined a little later by the Colonel with his two troops of “A”. As “C” Squadron was still employed with the battery, all the available troops of the Regiment were now concentrated in the sand-dunes on the right of the Gloucesters. A desultory long range fire fight was maintained, which caused a few casualties to the Regiment and probably none to the Turks, but, until the batteries subdued some of the machine-gun fire, it was an impossible position to attack from. The orders were to keep the enemy as fully employed as possible in his western entrenchments, in order to prevent him reinforcing his northern and eastern defences from them....

At 3 in the afternoon the order arrived for the Regiment to carry out a dismounted attack along the south side of the Rafa road with the main Turkish position as final objective. The Gloucesters were to join in on its left, the whole covered by the two machine-gun sections in the sand-hills. Accordingly “D” and half “A” were led out from the protecting dunes on to the open plain, where a short sharp gallop under machine-gun fire brought them on to the main road where it runs through a low ridge. Here “C” Squadron joined up under Major Wiggin, having suffered some casualties during the day, and the dismounted attack started by a steady series of rushes soon after 4 o’clock. The ground was devoid of all surface cover, only slight protection from view was occasionally obtained by shallow depressions, while a continuous fire was directed upon the attacks from rifles and machine guns situated in the trenches in front and in the long communication trench in enfilade from the right. The Gloucesters were manfully pressing their attack between the Worcesters and the New Zealanders, suffering considerable casualties in doing so, and the whole line had worked to close under the Magruntein hill when at 5.30 the New Zealanders broke through from the north with a sudden irresistible rush and poured over the crest of the hill. The battle was won and all that remained to do was shepherd in the prisoners and collect the wounded. Regimental Sergeant-Major J. K. Brodie was very badly hit late in the evening , also Lieutenant J. W. Edwards slightly while a dozen more lay about in the track of the attack. Fortunately, the setting sun shone full on the backs of the Regiment as they advanced and in the faces of the Turks, otherwise casualties must have been more severe.’ (Ibid)

With the battle won, and darkness falling Williams mounted his exhausted men and led them back to the reserve positions to feed and water the horses. After a couple of hours respite, the Worcestershire Yeomanry remounted at 1am for the night march back to El Arish. In torrential rain, ‘the darkness plays strange tricks with the eyes of tired men riding through the night, and many and various were the hallucinations of the riders, fortunately unshared by their mounts. Many went frankly to sleep in the saddle but others rode through limitless forests, rows and rows of tents, up steep mountain sides, over sheer precipices.... The Colonel said afterwards that he rode in his imagination past an endless succession of public-houses, the contents of which lay in the roadway.’ (Ibid)

As a result of the action some 35 Turkish officers and 1,700 other ranks were captured, as well as two mountain batteries and many machine guns and rifles. The Turks suffered casualties of approximately 300 dead, whilst the British casualties were approximately 500 of which the vast majority were wounded and were from the cavalry engaged in the action.

The Worcestershire Yeomanry spent the remainder of January 1917 going out on patrol from their base at El Arish. In February they moved to El Bruj, and they continued to serve as part of the 5th Mounted Brigade, Imperial Mounted Division. From El Bruj they moved to Sheikh Zowaid the following month, and from here they prepared for the First Battle of Gaza. The latter took place on 26 March, and the 5th Mounted Brigade was allotted a position with Huj on its left to in front of Hareira on its right. The battle itself was primarily an infantry attack upon infantry entrenched, with the cavalry providing a wide-flung screen facing outwards keeping the area free from interference from outside. Once again Williams’ squadrons were allocated to separate areas, occasionally coming together under his command for short sharp actions in their mobile role.

After the inconclusive First Battle of Gaza, the Worcestershire Yeomanry were engaged for the Second Battle of Gaza, 17-19 April 1917. Turkish forces had strengthened their defensive positions since the first action, thus making it very difficult for cavalry to properly engage. As a consequence the cavalry was employed protecting the flank of the Allied infantry whilst also carrying out diversionary manoeuvres in an effort to occupy the enemies’ attention. On 19 April the Regimental War Diary recorded that the Worcesters were ‘shelled heavily with shrapnel and high explosive from about 7.20am until 6.30pm.’ During the course of the battle the Regiment suffered casualties of 1 Officer and 1 N.C.O. killed, 2 other ranks killed, 2 Officers and 17 N.C.O.s and other ranks wounded.

Ras el Nagb - Charging up a Mountain

Throughout the next 6 months of 1917 the Regiment was employed in a protective capacity on the British line which ran from the sea near Gaza to Gamli on the Wadi Ghuzze. Williams’ men created a series of observation posts and were ordered to carry out long range reconnaissance. The Regiment was in the reserve for the attack on Beersheba, 31 October 1917, but at the forefront for the attempt to relieve the hard-pressed 1st Australian Light Horse Brigade at Ras el Nagb, 3-4 November 1917. The latter position being some 2,023 feet high, and ‘in order to reach Ras el Nagb it was necessary to advance for two and a half miles up the valley along the front of the enemy position and within 800 yards of it, and then turn half-right up a tributary valley leading to the Australians’ position.

When the whole Brigade set off in column of half-squadrons extended across the enemy’s front, it was felt that it was in for a hot time. The Worcesters led up the valley at a steady canter under a hail of machine-gun and rifle bullets.... The Turk now began to shell the valley, but the slope was too steep for his shells to take much effect... Now came the task of climbing up a thousand feet or so on foot to where the Anzacs were awaiting relief; the horses being left in the shelter of the valley below. Two squadrons, “A” and “D” took over a portion of the line which ran along the rim of a natural crater, leaving “C” Squadron in support.’ (Ibid)

The Brigade reached the Anzacs before nightfall, however, they realised that they too were now hemmed in. It was not until 5 pm of 4 November that the Turks attempted any forward movement, ‘Few of the Regiment will forget that day. Relief had been promised in the early morning, but the sun rose higher and became hotter and no relief came. The horses had now been without water since 8 o’clock on the previous morning and the men were not much better off, especially those who had their water-bottles pierced by bullets. The sun beat down with relentless power upon the bare mountain slopes. Shade there was none and the meagre supply of water was soon exhausted... The 4th November was the longest day ever spent by many of the Regiment, and the long-delayed attack in the afternoon came almost as a relief.’ (Ibid)

Approximately 3,000 Turks attacked, ‘advancing with great rapidity and dash amongst the rocks it was not until their rush had carried them within 80 yards of the position now held by “A” and “C” Squadrons, that they were checked. “D” Squadron which had been back in support during the day was called up at the gallop to reinforce the right flank, which had been temporarily driven in. If anybody in cold blood had suggested galloping up those mountains and over those rocks, he would probably have been certified as a lunatic....’ (Ibid)

The Brigade held on under intense pressure, eventually forcing the Turkish troops to withdraw as their casualties increased and the sun went down. As darkness fell the New Zealand Mounted Rifles arrived to take over the line, and the Brigade finally withdrew at 9pm. Over the course of the two days of fighting the Worcestershire Yeomanry suffered 2 Officers and 21 other ranks killed - the wounded had to be carried by hand down over the rocks for a mile.

Respite was short lived, as the Worcestershire Yeomanry were once again called into action around Tel el Sharia on 7 November. After the 60th Division secured the hill of Tel el Sharia, the Turkish left flank was broken, ‘and every endeavour had to be made to exploit the situation. For that purpose the 5th Mounted Brigade and the 3rd Australian Light Horse Brigade were ordered to move round the right flank of the 60th Division and make a mounted attack on the retreating enemy, with the special object of capturing his guns.... it was with only two squadrons that the Regiment moved out in the gathering dusk for this night adventure.... Both wings of the Turkish army were now crumpled up; all that their high command could now do was to endeavour to save as much from the wreck as possible, by encouraging their rearguard troops to make a desperate resistance.

Such was the position at dawn on the 8th November, the day on which the cavalry pursuit may be said to have begun. After a very short and cold night’s rest, the Regiment moved off northwards at 6 am, as advanced guard to the Brigade... The retreating enemy took up rearguard positions along every ridge that was capable of being defended... All through the morning, fighting was going on, but the Turkish rearguard troops, not more than 3,000 strong, were steadily driven backwards upon their supporting artillery by the relentless pressure of the infantry and cavalry. ’ (Ibid)

Muntaret was overwhelmed and Kofkhah was carried by the cavalry at mid-day, ‘the Turks had now been driven back some seven miles, every yard of which they had clung to with desperate tenacity; but the defence was beginning to disintegrate, and now for the first time in Palestine, the British troops had the satisfaction of seeing the enemy flying in hundreds for dear life. Now was the time to keep him on the run, to turn his retreat into a rout. The Worcesters and Warwicks, two squadrons of each, mounted and galloped forward in hot pursuit.’ (Ibid)

It was at this point that the Worcesters came to the fore:

‘Once for ten minutes they halted for dismounted action, to open a rapid rifle and Hotchkiss gun fire on the fugitives, then on again towards Huj, until 1.15pm, they were held up a thousand yards short of the enemy gun positions covering Huj from the south-east, and the huge depot of ammunition and stores the Turks had established there. Under the shelter of a low ridge the squadrons dismounted to give the blown horses a breather, and to examine the problem presented by the batteries in front. On the left the 60th Division could be seen, striving to advance across the lower ground under a volume of shell-fire from those same batteries, and suffering considerable loss in the process. Something had to be done and done quickly if the whole advance was not to be held up.’ (Ibid)

The Worcesters and Warwicks charged the position at Huj and despite suffering heavy losses, captured one battery of 5.9 howitzers; one Austrian .77 battery, one mountain battery, four machine guns, about 70 prisoners, with about 80 Turks and Austrians put to the sword.

Williams commanded the Regiment for the remainder of the war, including at Es Salt, and as Brigade Commander when the Worcestershire Yeomanry were briefly brigaded with the Sherwood Rangers. He returned to command the King’s Dragoon Guards in Iraq, 1919-21, during which time he compiled and edited the Regimental History whilst on active service in Baghdad. He retired in 1923, and resided on Lindisfarne in later life. Williams died in April 1935.

Sold with the following original documents: Bestowal Document for the award of the D.S.O., dated 4 June 1917; M.I.D. Certificate, dated 18 March 1917; Commission appointing Henry John Williams, as Second Lieutenant, 1st Dragoon Guards, dated 4 March 1891; Bestowal Document for the award of the Order of the Iron Crown, dated 23 July 1904; Bestowal Document for the award of the Order of Franz Joseph I, dated 20 June 1907; Buckingham Palace Restricted Permission to Wear Document for the Order of Franz Joseph I, dated November 1910, with enclosures.