Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War D.S.O. group of six awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel W. F. Ricardo, Royal Horse Guards, later Leicestershire Yeomanry, who was taken prisoner at Rensburg in January 1900, and wounded in France in 1915

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top ribbon bar; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Belfast (Capt. W. F. Ricardo, R.H. Gds:); 1914 Star (Major W. F. Ricardo. Leic: Yeo.); British War and Victory Medals, with small M.I.D. oak leaves (Major W. F. Ricardo); Coronation 1902, silver, mounted court-style; together with an unusual late Victorian ‘Welcome Home’ silver cigarette case, modelled as an envelope, of rounded oblong form addressed on the cover with enamelled facsimile handwriting to ‘Captain W. F. Ricardo, Royal Horse Guards, The Friary, Old Windsor, Berks’, stamped and postmarked ‘London W 1PM NO 28 00’, with a receiving postmark to the reverse ‘Old Windsor 2 PM 29 NO 00’, inscribed inside the cover ‘Welcome Home. Nov. 27. 1900. from “Steph” & Mary.’, by W. F. Wright, London 1900, 100g, slight wear on enamel, the postage stamp with some discernible detail but colour now lost, otherwise in good condition, the medals generally very fine or better (7) £2,400-£2,800

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

M.I.D. London Gazette 1 January 1916, and 15 May 1917.

Wilfred Francis Ricardo was born in London on 23 March 1868, son of Francis Ricardo. Educated at Eton, he joined the Royal Horse Guards as 2nd Lieutenant on 16 May 1888, being promoted to Lieutenant in September 1889, and Captain in January 1895. He served in South Africa 1899-1900, where he had his horse shot and was taken prisoner at Rensburg on 7 January 1900, and, by family tradition, was held in the same prison from which Churchill had escaped in December of the previous year. Ricardo was released at Pretoria on 6 June 1900, and subsequently took part in operations in the Transvaal, east of Pretoria, July to November 1900, including actions at Reit Vlei, Belfast (26-27 August) and Lydenburg (5 to 8 September); operations in Cape Colony, south of Orange River, 1899-1900, including actions at Colesburg (7 January).

Ricardo was promoted to Major in October 1903, and transferred to the Leicestershire Yeomanry on 27 March 1908. He served with the Leicestershire Yeomanry in France and Flanders from 2 November 1914, and was wounded in 1915. He rejoined the Royal Horse Guards on 30 May 1918, and was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel on 6 April 1919.

Sold with a fine original portrait photograph of Ricardo in R.H.G. uniform wearing his Q.S.A. and Coronation medals, and an interesting scrap book kept by Ricardo’s mother containing numerous cuttings relating to the war in South Africa, including mention of Ricardo’s capture.

The Belfast clasp is a contemporary tailor’s copy