Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War D.S.O., M.C. group of six awarded to Major J. N. Buchanan, Grenadier Guards; a pre-War First-Class cricketer for Cambridge University and the M.C.C.

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar; Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (2.Lieut. J. N. Buchanan. G. Gds.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. J. N. Buchanan); War Medal 1939-45, good very fine (6) £2,000-£2,400

D.S.O. London Gazette 3 June 1919.

M.C. London Gazette 26 September 1917:
‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during an attack. he led his company with great skill and determination, capturing two enemy strong points, together with two machine guns, seven officers, and about sixty men. The success of the action on this part of the field was entirely due to his fine leadership, and his men were greatly encouraged by his personal example ands admirable coolness under fire.’

John Nevile Buchanan was born in Grahamstown, Cape Colony, on 30 May 1887, the son of Sir John Buchanan, A Judge of the Supreme Court of South Africa, and was educated at Charterhouse, where he captained the Cricket XI, and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was in the Cambridge XI for four years, from 1906 to 1909, captaining the side in his last year, and made 31 First-Class appearances for the university, scoring 1,484 runs, including four centuries, and taking 26 wickets. Called to the Bar in 1910, he played for Marylebone Cricket Club against Oxford University that summer.

Buchanan was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards (Special Reserve) on 15 August 1914, and served with them during the Great War on the Western Front from 28 November 1914. He was promoted Lieutenant on 26 January 1915, temporary Captain on 4 May 1918, and temporary Major on 6 December of that year, and for his gallantry at Boesinghe in July 1917 was awarded the Military Cross. Transferring to the Staff as Brigade Major of the 3rd Guards Brigade, for his services during the latter stages of the Great War was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. He resigned his commission on 29 March 1920, retaining the rank of Major.

Buchanan married Miss Nancy Isobel Bevan, the daughter of David Augustus and Dame Maud Bevan, in 1915, with whom he had three sons and one daughter. Following the outbreak of the Second World War Buchanan was granted the a commission as temporary Wing Commander in 1939, before relinquishing his commission the following summer. He died in St. John’s Wood, London, on 31 October 1969, within a stone’s throw of Lord’s Cricket Ground.

Sold with copied research.

For the medals awarded to the recipient’s mother-in-law, Dame Maud Bevan, see Lot 2.