Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Second War ‘1940’ M.B.E. group of seven awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel R. M. Kennard, 12th Lancers, ADC to Colonel H. Lumsden during the fall of France and the Dunkirk evacuation, he also survived the bombing of the Café de Paris club in London during the Blitz, 8/9 March 1941, before going on to command ‘A’ Squadron in Italy during 1944

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 2nd type breast badge, silver; 1939-45 Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, M.I.D. Oak Leaf; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Cyprus (Major. R. M. Kennard, M.B.E. 12 L,) surname partially officially corrected; Coronation 1953, mounted as originally worn, generally very fine (7) £300-£400

Provenance: Spink, March 1997.

M.B.E. London Gazette 11 July 1940.

M.I.D. London Gazette 20 December 1940.

Ronald ‘Ronnie’ Malcolm Kennard was ‘educated at Wellington and Sandhurst. He had joined the Regiment [12th Lancers] in Egypt in 1932, quickly becoming a popular figure, an efficient officer and a zealous participant in all sports…. he was also endowed with a good brain and the precious gift of tact. The latter was early evinced when in the two years before the war the 12th were subjected to an unending steam of visiting foreign officers - French, German, Russian, Romanian, Chinese and so on. The German visitor, Major Munzel, was not a particularly endearing individual, prone to tactical discussions at all moments of day and night. Becoming belligerently embroiled with a group of Guards Officers in that renowned establishment ‘The Bag of Nails’, he was extracted by Ronnie with a skill worthy of the highest diplomacy!

It is not surprising that Herbert Lumsden selected him as Adjutant when he took command in 1938… All this Ronnie took in his stride, as he did mobilisation which followed in late August, before the departure for France in October.

During the ensuing incredibly tedious six months that were spent in the Pas de Calais, he carried out his many duties with humour and efficiency and when hostilities started in May 1940, he acted as a most capable and unflappable aide to his Colonel. It should be remembered that the 12th Lancers were the only armoured car regiment with the B.E.F. and were appallingly over-stretched for the disastrous three weeks of that campaign. Herbert Lumsden carried out tasks far beyond his role of C.O. and Ronnie, during this time, conducted affairs at RHQ - which at times must have resembled an Army Intelligence Centre - with his customary even-tempered aplomb.

On returning to England from Dunkirk he was rewarded with an M.B.E., and also a Mention in Despatches. Subsequently he was sent to the Staff College, and then as a Squadron Leader to the 27th Lancers, before rejoining the Regiment in Algiers in 1943.

It may be of interest that in 1941 Ronnie, never averse to congenial company, found himself in the Café de Paris, the night it received a direct hit from a bomb [8/9 March 1941 - a fifty kilogram bomb passed through the Rialto Cinema above and exploded beside the bandstand, killing 34 people, including the bandleader Ken ‘Snakehips Johnson’, and wounding 80 others], with calamitous results, but happily not for him.

He commanded ‘A’ Squadron when the Regiment went to Italy in April 1944, consigned to an infantry role in the Apennines. During the alternation of this task with the traditional one of armoured cars he coped most admirably, eventually becoming second-in-command to Kate Savill. The latter pays particular tribute to him for the period when he acted as the Regimental link with the redoubtable Bernard Freyberg, commanding 2nd New Zealand Division, especially in the final dash to Venice and Trieste.

Eventually he returned to England to act as Second-in-Command to Andrew Horsbrugh-Porter at Barnard Castle, when the 12th Lancers were ruled as the Armoured Car Training Regiment.

Thereafter he served for 2 and half years as an instructor at the Canadian Staff College, retiring from the Army in 1959.

Subsequently he became a partner in the firm of James Flower & Sons, Stockbrokers…’ (Obituary written by Major B. M. H. Shand, M.C., the father of Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall, as appeared in The 9th/12th Royal Lancers Regimental Journal)

Colonel Kennard died in June 1989.

Sold with extensive copied research, including photographic images of recipient in uniform.