Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A C.V.O., K.St.J. group of seven awarded to Inspector-General Belgrave Ninnis, Royal Navy, Staff Surgeon aboard the Discovery in Sir George Nares’ expedition to the Arctic in 1875-76, and later Chief Commissioner of the St John Ambulance Brigade

The Royal Victorian Order, C.V.O., Commander’s neck badge,silver-gilt and enamels, the reverse officially numbered ‘C540’; The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knight of Grace, neck badge and breast star, silver-gilt and enamels, the suspension loop with old repair and now detached from badge; Arctic Medal 1875-76 (Dr. B. Ninnis. Staff Surgn. R.N. H.M.S. Discovery); Coronation 1902, St John Ambulance Brigade (Insp. Gen. Belgrave Ninnis. Dep. Comm.); Coronation 1911, St John Ambulance Brigade (Insp. Gen. B. Ninnis, M.D., R.N.); Service Medal of the Order of St John, silver (Inspr. Genl. Belgrave Ninnis. R.N., M.D. July 1911); St John Ambulance Medal for South Africa 1899-1902 (Dep. Commr. Belgrave Ninnis. M.D. R.N. 1902) light contact marks, otherwise very fine (8) £8000-10000

Provenance: Dr A. L. Lloyd Collection.

Belgrave Ninnis was born on 31 August 1837, the fourth son of the late Paul Ninnis of St Austell, Cornwall. He joined the Royal Navy in 1861 as an Assistant Surgeon and on 23 August was appointed to the sloop H.M.S. Pantaloon on the Cape of Good Hope station. He served as a Naturalist in the Imperial and Colonial surveying schooner Beatrice in the Northern Territory of South Australia from 1864-66, and received the thanks of the Legislative Assembly, South Australia. He was appointed to the Royal Hospital, Greenwich, 26 January 1867, and on 1 June 1869, to H.M.S. Caledonia, on the Mediterranean station, where he served until 2 May 1872, on appointment to H.M.S. Lord Warden, Flagship of the C. in C. Mediterranean Fleet, as Surgeon. He was promoted to Staff Surgeon on 21 December 1874 and served in H.M.S. Discovery, Captain Stephenson, in the Arctic expedition of 1875-76, under Captain Sir George Nares (Arctic Medal).

He became Fleet Surgeon on 3 November 1876, and on 13 October 1878 was appointed to H.M.S. Garnet, serving off the east coast of South America. He was awarded the Gilbert Blane Gold Medal in 1879, and became Deputy Director-General of Hospitals and Fleets on 5 May 1883, retiring on 1 September 1897 with the rank of Inspector-General.

He became Deputy Commissioner of the St John Ambulance Brigade and was appointed Chief Commissioner in 1903. On 5 July 1911 he received the service medal of the Order of St John from the hands of H.R.H. Duke of Connaught, who was then Grand Prior of the Order. He became a Knight of Grace of the Order and was awarded the C.V.O. on the occasion of King George’s Birthday, 14 June 1912.

In addition he was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He was the author of ‘Remarks on the Ethnology, Natural History, and Meteorology of the Northern Territory of South Australia’; also of ‘The Natural History, Meteorology, and Native Population of Northern Australia’; ‘Diseases Incidental to the Eskimo Dogs of Smith’s Sound: Diagnosis and Treatment’; and ‘Statistical and Nosological Report, with Remarks on the Sanitary Condition of the Welsh Colony of ‘Chubut,’ South America.’

Belgrave Ninnis died in Streatham on 18 June 1922, aged 84. His son Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis was killed on the Australian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-12, when he fell into a crevasse whilst on a sledge journey across King George V Land with Mawson and Mertz.

Sold with a quantity of research and copied photographs.