Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Foreword

My medal collecting and military history interests were the result of my fascination, when aged 12, with the weapons and German medal collection of Steve Boxall, my godmother’s husband I knew as ‘Uncle Steve’. His study’s centrepiece was a Vickers Machine gun, and he gave me a deactivated Mills grenade.So often when I visited him he gave me a book about military history, from the Sikh Wars, to Afghanistan and the Egyptian campaigns 1882-98. Steve of Hove, and Major Dodkins his great friend from Purley had huge collections of German medals. Steve flew in single engined Wellesleys in Eritrea & Abyssinia in 1941 and North Africa in Blenheim IV’s, ending up as a Sqdn.Ldr.with an MID.

He gave me an Iron Cross, which I swapped when 13,for a pair to the 9th Lancers, the Punniar Star & Punjab 2 bar, which remain in my possession .With 45 years in business mostly in India, S.E.Asia & Japan, that must be one of my very best business deals! . He proposed me for the OMRS (648)

I continue collecting, to my old regiment The Buffs (NS Pl.Cmdr Aden 1957-58) now PWRR, and have a fine collection to The British North Borneo Charter Company, inspired by my living for 13 years with The Borneo Company in Sarawak & Sabah (formerly British North Borneo.)

With an extensive library of books about medals and military history, and some 8000 articles on kardex cards, I sometimes wish I could find someone to teach how to appreciate a fascinating hobby, and learn more about our glorious history as a Nation who brought so much to many parts of the world, albeit with self interest part of the picture of the times, as it was elsewhere. We were the best!

AJC 7/7/2013

Alan Cathery

Since 1951 I have been a keen collector of Military Medals, my main sources being Pierce Noonan and Christopher Mellor-Hill, both of Noonans Mayfair, and the latter a regular visitor to my wife Carol and me in Holywell, North Wales. On first meeting Christopher, he asked me to tell of my collecting enjoyment, and that was the easiest thing to do, given that after serving with The Buffs in Aden in 1958 as a Platoon Commander, I then worked for 30 years in close proximity to so many of the Regiment’s former battlefields, in Calcutta, Sarawak, Brunei, Sabah, Singapore, Thailand, and Japan.

I was first introduced to the medals world by Steve Boxall of Hove, who had served as a Rear Gunner with the Royal Air Force in North Africa during the Second World War, and had been Mentioned in Despatches. Known as Uncle Steve (as the friends of one’s parents were often called in those days), his wife was my godmother. He gave me an Iron Cross which I swopped whilst at Brighton College with a Punniar Star and a 2 clasp Punjab Medal pair to the 9th Lancers - my best ever trade!

Steve’s close friend was Major Dodkins of Purley, who like Steve had a large collection of German medals. Dodkins was a founder member of the O.M.R.S., and they got me signed up as No. 648. Helping young collectors like me get started was so much par for the course back then, such was their pride in all things British Forces.

My second mentor was Lieutenant Maurice de Jersey Creswick, who had served with 6th Buffs on the Somme during the Great War, where he was twice wounded. Known as Uncle Maurice, he retired to Hove, became Chairman of the Brighton Branch of The Buffs Regimental Association, and was my mother's bridge partner. He was able to alter my call-up from a Royal Sussex Regimental draft from September 1956 to The Buffs draft for January 1957. All those years talking about The Buffs at our Hove home had paid off! However, it was only after passing my War Office Selection Board to Eaton Hall, and becoming Athletics Captain there, that a somewhat over-recruited Buffs let me back in as an Officer!

I am greatly indebted to my two ‘Uncles’ for giving me a wonderful hobby of 72 years collecting medals and all that goes with it, and I hope that the successful buyers of the medals in my collection will have an equal enjoyment in owning and researching them.

Alan Cathery
Holywell, January 2023.

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