Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War C.M.G. group of seven awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel H. H. Northey, Royal Scots Fusiliers, who was taken Prisoner of War during the Boer War, and Commanded the 6th Battalion during the Great War; Wounded at the Battle of Loos on 27 September 1915, he relinquished command of the Battalion to Winston Churchill
The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, C.M.G., Companion’s neck badge, silver-gilt, gold and enamels,with neck ribbon, in its Garrard, London, case of issue; India General Service 1895-1902, 3 clasps, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Samana 1897, Tirah 1897-98 (Lieut. H. H. Northey. Ryl. Scots Fuslrs.) top lugs removed; Queen's South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal (Capt. H. H. Northey, R. Scots Fus:); King's South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Capt. H. H. Northey. Rl. Scts. Fus.); 1914-15 Star (Lt: Col: H. H. Northey. R. Sc: Fus:); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaf (Lt. Col. H. H. Northey.) the last six mounted as worn, small enamel chips to both centres of C.M.G., minor edge bruising, otherwise good very fine or better (7) £1,800-£2,200

Provenance: Spink, May 2001.

C.M.G. London Gazette 14 January 1916:
‘For services rendered in connection with Military Operations in the Field.’

M.I.D. London Gazette 1 January 1916.

Herbert Hamilton Northey was born in 1870 and was educated at Somerset College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Royal Scots Fusiliers in July 1891, he was promoted Lieutenant in July 1893 and served during operations on the North West Frontier of India, 1897-98, including those on the Samana and the action at Ublan Pass, 27 August 1897, in addition to service on the Staff in the Tirah Expeditionary Force. Promoted Captain in June 1899, he served during the Boer War in South Africa, and was taken Prisoner of War at Colenso, whilst participating in operations to relieve the garrison at Ladysmith; subsequently released, he went onto serve in the Transvaal, November 1900 to May 1902, and was latterly on the Staff and Commandant at Krokodil Poort.

Promoted Major in February 1912, on the outbreak of the Great War Northey was given command of the 6th (Service) Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers; served with the Regiment during the Great War on the Western Front from May 1915; and was wounded at the Battle of Loos, 27 September 1915: ‘Just after dawn the Germans attempted to attack us from the direction of Haisnes, but were repulsed without difficulty. Immediately after this I received a report that the enemy were trying to bomb down the right of Fosse Alley. I had two machine guns and also parties of bombers on that flank, and the enemy was held until our bombs were exhausted and both machine guns put out of action by being hit by German bombs. As the German bombing parties were now making headway down the trench, I ordered the company on the right to get out of the trench into the open so as to charge round the bombers. This was done, but not without severe loss from machine-gun fire from St. Elie, and also artillery fire from the direction of Haisnes. With this party I eventually retired on to the old German trenches south-east of the Hohenzollern Redoubt. All this time we received no reinforcements and no support from our guns. On consultation with Colonel MacKenzie (10th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) we agreed that the only thing to do was to get back to the old German trenches with as little loss as possible. However as this meant returning over the open for some 300 to 400 yards, severe losses were inevitable. I was hit myself, shot through the left leg about 200 yards from the trench we were making for, and I believe Colonel MacKenzie was also hit about the same time but I never saw him again. This must have been about 3 p.m. and from onward I took no further part in the fighting. After I was hit, I stumbled on through communication trenches hopping as best I could for what seemed an interminable distance - the trenches being deep with mud and choked with dead and wounded men - and was eventually helped into a German dugout by a stretcher-bearer, who tied up my leg. I then imagine I must have fainted, probably because I had lost a lot of blood, and came to finding myself being pulled out of the dug-out by two stretcher-bearers, with a terrific din going on all around. This was the German counter-attacking, and I found I was between the German and British lines. I slowly and very painfully made my way along the German trenches towards our own lines - fighting going on all round and very much afraid of being collared by the enemy. At one point a stretcher was obtained, and the two stretcher-bearers tried to carry me over the open, but just as I was being lifted a shell came, a splinter of which blew the unfortunate stretcher-bearer's brains all over me. The other stretcher-bearer then carried me away over the open on his back under a heavy fire some 150 yards - until we reached a trench in our organised front line. Very soon after this I got another stretcher, and after many varied vicissitudes I arrived at Barts where there was a dressing station. From Bart's I was carried to Vermelles, then to Bethune (a very painful dressing and injection there), then to Lillers (for two days) and then on to the No. 20 General Hospital, Etaples.’ (recipient's diary refers).

Appointed a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, and Mentioned in Despatches, Northey relinquished command of the 6th Battalion on account of his wounds in January 1916, and was replaced as Commanding Officer of the Battalion by Lieutenant-Colonel Winston Churchill. After a year's recuperation, Northey returned to the 6th Battalion in France as Commanding Officer, November 1916 (Churchill having relinquished command in May 1916 in order to return to the House of Commons), and remained on active service until April 1917. He retired with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, October 1919.

Northey and Churchill

Lieutenant-Colonel Northey relinquished command of the 6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers following the Battle of Loos, and Winston Churchill was appointed as his successor. It is interesting to parallel Northey's and Churchill's military careers. Both men passed out of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst (only four years apart). In 1897-98, as Lieutenants, both were present in the Punjab Frontier and the Tirah campaign against Afridi insurgents. Later, in the Boer War, Northey, like Churchill, was captured by the Boers and interned as a Prisoner of War. Did Northey and Churchill ever meet? Probably, at a historic reunion of the Regiment on the 1 July 1919, their first post-War Regimental Dinner, with H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, the newly-appointed Colonel-in-Chief, as the guest of honour. Among the 80 guests was Churchill, who toasted the Prince of Wales and spoke of the ‘magnificent spirit that existed in the famous old Regiment, and how much that spirit meant, and would mean in the future.’ Also present was Lieutenant-Colonel Northey, the man Churchill had replaced. An eyewitness wrote: ‘Old friends gripped hands very warmly, but with few words. There was a feeling of reunion and thankfulness, and the regret for those who had gone, and words did not come easily.’ To believe the two commanders did not share a greeting is impossible. They had much in common.