Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An outstanding post-War C.M.G., Great War D.S.O. and Second War Bar, Great War M.C. group of fourteen awarded to Colonel Allan ‘Jiggy’ Spowers, Commanding 2/24th Australian Infantry Battalion, he was awarded both the D.S.O. and M.C. in 1916 whilst serving as a second lieutenant in Mesopotamia with the East Lancashire Regiment, and a Second Award Bar to his D.S.O. in 1945 following his capture in the Western Desert at El Alamein in July 1942

The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, C.M.G., Companion’s neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel; Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., undated as issued, with Second Award Bar, the reverse officially dated ‘1945’, silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar; Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (2. Lieut. A. Spowers. E. Lan. R.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Lieut. A. Spowers.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Australia Service Medal, these last five all officially impressed ‘VX14840 A. Spowers’; Jubilee 1935, unnamed as issued; Coronation 1953, unnamed as issued; Sweden, Kingdom, Royal Order of the Vasa, Knight’s breast badge, gold and enamel, medals unmounted, generally good very fine or better (14) £5,000-£7,000

C.M.G. London Gazette 2 January 1956:
‘For public services in the State of Victoria.’

D.S.O. London Gazette 22 December 1916:
‘For distinguished service in the field in Mesopotamia.’

D.S.O. Second Award Bar London Gazette 15 November 1945:
‘In recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the field.’

M.C. London Gazette 24 June 1916; citation published 26 July 1916:
‘For conspicuous gallantry in leading a night attack on the enemy’s position, although twice wounded.’

M.I.D. London Gazette 19 October 1916; 30 December 1941 (Middle East); 15 December 1942 (Middle East).

Allan Spowers (1892-1968), army officer and company director, was born on 9 July 1892 at South Yarra, Melbourne, only son and third of six children of William George Lucas Spowers, a journalist from New Zealand, and his London-born wife Annie Christina, née Westgarth. Ethel Spowers was his elder sister. Allan attended Miss Turner’s school and boarded (from 1905) at Geelong Church of England Grammar School. Nicknamed ‘Jiggie’, he became a prefect and captain of boats. He entered the University of Melbourne (B.A., 1920) in 1912, but interrupted his studies to travel to England where he enlisted in the British Army and was commissioned in the East Lancashire Regiment on 4 May 1915.
Attached to the regiment’s 6th Battalion, Spowers fought at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli, in August and in Mesopotamia in the following year. He won the Military Cross (1916) for leading his men in a night-attack during which he was twice wounded. In addition, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (1916) and was mentioned in dispatches. He was promoted lieutenant in April 1917 and demobilised from the army in July 1919. Returning to Melbourne, he worked as a journalist on the Argus and Australasian. At the 1930 Imperial Press Conference in London he represented these newspapers; within a few years he was a director of the company that ran them. On 29 April 1922 at St Mark’s Church of England, Darling Point, Sydney, he had married Rosamond Sandys Lumsdaine, a niece of A. B. (’Banjo’) Paterson.
In 1928-33 Spowers served in the militia. He was mobilised as a captain in the 46th Battalion in September 1939 and promoted major in November. Transferring to the Australian Imperial Force in May 1940, he was promoted lieutenant colonel and appointed commander of the 2nd/24th Battalion in July. Six ft 1 in. tall and sparely built, with penetrating grey-blue eyes and a commanding voice, he maintained high standards of conduct, insisted on mental and physical toughness, and disdained pretentiousness.
The 2nd/24th arrived in the Middle East in December 1940, withdrew to Tobruk, Libya, in April 1941 and was besieged there until October. In January 1942 the battalion was sent to Syria for intensive training. Spowers was twice mentioned in dispatches for his services. Ordered back to the Western Desert in June in response to the German advance into Egypt, he and his men played a leading role in the battle of Tel el Eisa. Lieutenant General Sir Leslie Morshead described Spowers’s leadership as ‘outstandingly meritorious’ and he was to be awarded a Bar (1945) to his D.S.O. On 12 July 1942 he became a prisoner of war when his jeep was inadvertently driven into enemy territory.
Freed in Germany in March 1945 and repatriated in August, Spowers was appointed temporary colonel and director of amenities, Army Headquarters, Melbourne. He transferred to the Reserve of Officers on 17 July 1946. Although he resigned from the board of the Argus and Australasian Ltd in 1949, he held a number of other directorships and chaired (1951-59) the Victorian division of the Australian Red Cross Society. In 1956 he was appointed C.M.G. and to the Swedish Royal Order of Vasa. He died on 4 May 1968 at Golden Ball, his property at Everton, and was buried in Wangaratta cemetery; his wife, and their daughter and two sons survived him.’ (Australian Dictionary of Biography refers).

For the recipient’s miniature dress medals and related objects, see Lot 529.