Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Lieutenant-Colonel H. H. Burnham, Canadian Army Medical Corps

1914-15 Star (Capt. H. H. Burnham, Can. Fd. Art.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf, naming erased on these two; Italy, Al Valore Militare, silver, obverse with ‘crowned Z/F.G.’, unnamed, minor edge bruising, good very fine (4) £150-200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the Canadian Expeditonary Force 1914-1918.

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Howard Hampden Burnham, who was born in Toronto and a pre-war officer in the Canadian Militia, enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in August 1914.

Embarked for France in early 1915, he served on attachment to the 2nd Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery, and with No. 2 Canadian Field Ambulance, gaining a brace of “mentions” (London Gazettes 22 June 1915 and 17 April 1917 refer), and the Italian Al Valore Militare in silver (London Gazette 25 May 1917 refers), one of just four Canadians so honoured.

Returning to the U.K. in early 1917, he was employed as a specialist at Westcliffe Hospital and the C.A.M.C. General Hospital, prior to being discharged back in Ottawa in March 1919. Burnham remained as a Medical Officer on the Non-Permanent Active Militia and ended his career as a Lieutenant-Colonel in command of the 16th Field Ambulance in Toronto; sold with copied service record - also see Lots 1136 and 1165.