Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Paardeberg, Driefontein, Johannesburg, South Africa 1901, unofficial rivets between fourth and fifth clasps (Capt. G. B. M. Rawlinson. 2/D of C.L.I.) engraved naming, nearly extremely fine £300-£400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the 46th Foot and its Successor Units.

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George Brooke Millers Rawlinson was born at Duddon Hall, Cumberland, on 16 June 1864, the second son of Major William Rawlinson, who had charged with the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons at Balaklava, and was commissioned Lieutenant in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion, Sherwood Foresters, on 5 February 1884. He transferred to the 2nd Battalion, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, on 25 November 1885, and first saw foreign service with his regiment in Egypt, in 1886, but he arrived too late to take part in the campaign which had concluded the previous year, and so received no medal. In 1891 he passed the School of Instruction in Musketry at Hythe, and also the Veterinary Class at Aldershot, and was promoted captain on 19 February 1895.

Rawlinson served with the 2nd Battalion in South Africa during the Boer War from 1899-1901, as the Captain commanding “C” Company; he was also employed with Prisoners of War at Green Point. With his battalion, he served in operations in the Orange Free State from February to May 1900, including the operations at Paardeburg; the actions at Poplar Grove and Driefontein; the capture of Bloemfontein; the actions at Bosman's Kop, Springfontein, Isaacs Poort, Thubanchee, Hout Nek (Thoba Mountain), and Vet River - including the capture of Windberg - and in the passage of the Zand River; and the operations in the Transvaal in May and June 1900 - including the action at Doornkop, the capture of Johannesburg and the assault on and capture of Pretoria. He also served in operations in the Transvaal from 30 November 1900 to May 1901. For his services he was twice Mentioned in Despatches, (London Gazettes 8 February 1901 and 10 October 1901), and was promoted Brevet Major (London Gazette 27 September 1901).

Rawlinson returned to UK to take up the position of Adjutant in the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, at Bodmin, in July, 1901. He relinquished this position shortly after having been promoted substantive Major in the regiment on 2 July 1904, and served with 2nd Battalion in Gibraltar from June 1905 until his retirement on 11 October of that year. He died at Thwaites, in Cumberland, on 16 September 1913, allegedly as a direct result of his service in South Africa.

Sold with copied research.