Medals from the Collection of Peter and Dee Helmore

A fine and unique Sierra Leone 1898-99 D.S.O. group of six awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel N. J. Goodwyn, Devonshire Regiment, attached West African Regiment, who was severely wounded at the Battle of Colenso and was four times Mentioned in Despatches

Distinguished Service Order, V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar; Coronation 1902, unnamed as issued; India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Burma 1889-92 (Capt. N. J. Goodwyn, 2nd. Bn. Devon. Regt.); East and West Africa 1887-1900, 1 clasp, Sierra Leone 1898-99 (Capt. N. J. Goodwyn, 2/Dev. R.) officially engraved naming; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal (Capt. N. J. Goodwyn, D.S.O. Devon Rgt.) officially engraved naming, King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Lt. Col. D.S.O. N. J. Goodwyn. Devon Rgt.) officially engraved naming, mounted court-style as worn, enamel damage to DSO, with obverse centre slightly depressed, otherwise generally good very fine and better (6) £4,000-£5,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Peter and Dee Helmore.

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Christie’s, November 1990.

D.S.O. London Gazette 9 January 1900:
‘In recognition of services whilst employed in Sierra Leone.’

M.I.D. London Gazettes 29 December 1899 (Sierra Leone); 8 February 1901, 10 September 1901, and 29 July 1902 (all South Africa).

Norton James Goodwyn was born at Freshwater, Isle of Wight, in 1861. Educated at Clifton College, he was an Honorary Queen’s Cadet at the Royal Military College Sandhurst. A keen sportsman and gymnast, he was commissioned Lieutenant in the Devonshire Regiment on 9 September 1882, and embarked with the 1st Battalion for Egypt in February 1891 before being posted to the 2nd Battalion in Burma on 24 September 1891, where he commanded the Irrawaddy Column from December 1891 to April 1892. Appointed Adjutant of the 2nd Battalion in Burma and Egypt in 1892, he was named as a joint co-respondent in the high society divorce case, Alston v. Alston, at the High Court of Justice in November 1894, and was subsequently employed with the Egyptian Army between 1894 and 1896.

Attached to the West African Regiment for operations in Sierra Leone from 9 April to 24 June 1899, Goodwyn took part in the Mendiland Expedition, including Songo Town-Kwalu Expedition, and also in the Karene and Protectorate Expeditions. With the assistance of the Royal Navy he landed a small party of West African Regiment at Shenge and on the Bumpe River, and between these places and Kwalu in July 1898. He was in command of two Companies of the West African Regiment during the successful capture of Bai Bureh, Chief of the Timmini tribe, Sierra Leone, on 11 November 1898, and for his services was Mentioned in Despatches and appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order.

Rejoining the 2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment in 1899, Goodwyn embarked with them to Durban in October 1899 only to be severely wounded in the Battle of Colenso on 15 December 1899. Having recovered from his wounds he rejoined the Battalion in August 1900 and was appointed to command Thorneycroft’s Mounted Infantry in Transvaal, Orange River Colony and Cape Colony. Promoted Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel in recognition of his services in South Africa on 26 October 1902, he was also Mentioned in Despatches on a further three occasions. Appointed to the Staff, Indian Army as Inspector of Gymnasia on 19 May 1904, he travelled home to the U.K. on leave via Australia in March 1906, but was taken ill and diagnosed with enteric fever whilst at Sydney in April 1906, and died after five weeks’ sickness at Point Piper, Sydney, on 6 May 1906, at the age of 44. He is buried at the Church of England Cemetery, Waverley, overlooking Bondi Beach and the Pacific Ocean, and is also commemorated on a Memorial Tablet at All Saints Church, East Budleigh, Devon.

Sold with a photographic image of the recipient, and extensive copied research, including a photocopy of The Illustrated London News, 24 December 1898, which includes a photograph of ‘A’ Company (Captain Goodwyn’s) of the West African Regiment, which has just caught Bai Bureh, the Chief of the Timmini Tribe.