MEDALS & COINS, ARMS & ARMOUR

MEDALS & COINSARMS & ARMOUR

6th May 2021

DEPARTMENT NED COWELL +44 (0) 1722 341469 nc@woolleyandwallis.co.uk

ZOE CORDEY +44 (0) 1722 446980 zc@woolleyandwallis.co.uk

Now accepting consignments for the 6th May 2021 sale.

Closing date for entries 19th March 2021.

OPPOSITE. The Great War Military Cross group of medals to Captain Robert Anthony Eden, future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

1. Zoe Cordey holding the group of medals to Captain Robert Anthony Eden

2. A Carnegie Hero Fund presentation silver pocket watch

A GALLANT POLITICIAN

Anthony Eden is chiefly remembered as the Prime Minister who presided over the Suez Crisis of 1956 and this has arguably resulted in a distorted perception of his career as a politician. The invasion of the canal zone, though militarily successful, drew much international criticism; and the subsequent withdrawal, precipitated by hostile American diplomacy, led to Eden’s resignation after only two years in post.

This episode has tended to obscure his valuable service as a cabinet minister. As foreign secretary he distinguished himself (at least in the view of posterity) by his determined opposition to Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement, and during the dark years of the Second World War he gave valuable service in a number of roles in Winston Churchill’s government.

The medals illustrated here are evidence of an even earlier phase of Eden’s life, and an episode that reflects enormous credit upon him. As a junior officer in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, serving in the trenches of the First World War, he was awarded the Military Cross. According to his memoirs, the reason for this was his role in rescuing an injured man under fire. Together with his campaign, Jubilee and Coronation medals, the Military cross forms a group of historic significance, which will be offered for sale in our May 6th auction.

AN INTREPID RAILWAYMAN

Medals are not the only form of award to be made in recognition of bravery or merit. This silver pocket watch was among the tokens of esteem bestowed upon David Wheal, railwayman, for risking his life to save a woman from a speeding train in May 1912.

Mr Wheal was walking along the platform of St Margaret’s Station near Hertford when he saw an elderly lady crossing the tracks behind a departing train, oblivious to the fact that another train was approaching at speed from the opposite direction. In an act reminiscent of an action movie, Mr Wheal dashed in front of the locomotive and snatched the lady from the jaws of death. With mere feet to spare, they crashed into the gate of the far side of the tracks.

Mr Wheal’s courage was considered sufficient to merit the award of the prestigious Edward Medal; and, in addition, the Carnegie Hero Fund presented him with this specially engraved watch, which will feature in our auction on 6 May 2021.