The Jack Webb Collection of Medals and Militaria

A silver and enamelled ‘Freedom’ Casket presented by the Carpenters’ Company to Colonel the Earl of Albemarle in recognition of his services with the City of London Imperial Volunteers

A magnificent example of cylindrical form highly decorated overall, the top mounted with a kneeling figure of a Boer War soldier, slouch hat, bandolier, rifle at the ready. The figure supported on two sides with richly enamelled shields, that of the Carpenters’ Company and that of Albemarle’s Family (Keppel). Below the shields the mottoes of the Company and Keppel engraved in the silver. Both ends of the casket with swing handles, one end only opens and contains the original vellum scrolls admitting the recipient ‘Free’ of the Company. The casket is supported by four lion’s paw feet. An engraved panel below the Carpenters’ Company shield, ‘The Honorary Freedom Of The Worshipful Company Of Carpenters Was Presented To Coll. The Rt. Honle. The Earl Of Albemarle In This Casket On April 23rd 1901’. Hall Marked Sheffield 1900/01 by William Hutton & Sons Ltd, (approx. 34 ounces). Contained in its original silk and velvet lined case; together with the recipient’s National Rifle Association, Life Members Pass dated 1891, 44mm, bone, issued to Earl of Albemarle, and signed by Colonel W. Mackinnon, Secretary N.R.A., in red leather case, very fine overall condition (2) £3,000-£4,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Jack Webb Collection of Medals and Militaria.

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Arnold Allan Cecil Keppel, 8th Earl of Albemarle, was born in 1858, the eldest son of William Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle and his wife Sophia Mary, and was educated at Eton College. Commissioned Sub-Lieutenant into the Dorset Militia on 7 April 1877, he transferred and was promoted Lieutenant in the Scots Guards on 19 October 1878, resigning his commission in 1883. He was promoted Major of the 12th Middlesex (Civil Service) Rifles on 9 January 1884 and commanded them with the rank of Colonel from 1892 to 1901. Styled by his courtesy title Viscount Bury, he was returned to Parliament for Birkenhead in 1892, a seat he held until 1894 when he succeeded his father to the earldom and took his seat in the House of Lords.

After the formation of the City of London Imperial Volunteers in December 1899, Lord Albemarle was appointed in charge of the Infantry Battalion on 3 January 1900 and served with them, in the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, in South Africa during the Boer War until the Corps was disbanded in November 1900. For his services in South Africa he was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 10 September 1901), was created a Companion of the Order of the Bath, and was awarded the Q.S.A. with 4 clasps.

Lord Albemarle served as an Aide-de-Camp to both Edward VII and George V, and was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order in July 1901, being advanced to a Knight Commander of the same Order in 1909, and promoted to a Knight Grand Cross of the Order in 1931. Remaining active in politics, he served in the Conservative administrations of Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin as a Lord-in-waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) between 1922 and 1924. He died in 1942.