Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The C.M.G. group of five miniature dress medals worn by Colonel A. de M. Bell, Canadian Army Service Corps

The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, C.M.G., Companion’s badge, gold and enamel, with integral gold riband buckle; 1914-15 Star; British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves; Belgium, Kingdom, Croix de Guerre, A.I.R., bronze, mounted as worn, good very fine (5) £200-£240

C.M.G. London Gazette 1 January 1919.

Archibald de Mowbray Bell was born in Ottawa, Ontario, on 17 March 1874 and was commissioned into the 43rd Rifles in the late 1890s. Following the outbreak of the Great War he was commissioned Major in the Canadian Army Service Corps on 23 September 1914, and serviced during the Great War on the Western Front, being twice Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazettes 15 June 1916 and 31 December 1918), awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre (London Gazette 12 July 1918), and created a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. Advanced Colonel, he died on 31 March 1963.

Sold with the recipient’s Province of Quebec Curlers Association Past President’s Badge, silver-gilt and enamel, the reverse engraved ‘Col. A. de M. Bell.’; and a miniature photograph of the recipient in uniform forming the centrepiece of a silver and enamel oval brooch, and housed in a fitted leather case.