A Great War O.B.E. group of three awarded to Major D. H. Cameron, Royal Air Force, late Royal Artillery, Indian Army and Royal Flying Corps

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) Officer’s 1st type breast badge, silver-gilt, hallmarks for London 1919; British War Medal 1914-20 (Major, R.F.C.); Delhi Durbar 1903, edge bruising, otherwise very fine or better (3) £200-250

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Awards to the R.F.C. and R.A.F. formed by Wing Commander Bill Traynor.

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O.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1919.

Donald Hay Cameron was born in August 1867 and educated at Uppingham and the R.M.A. Woolwich. Commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in July 1887, he transferred to the Indian Staff Corps in the rank of Lieutenant in July 1891, when he received an appointment in the Central India Horse. In 1902, however, he was appointed Adjutant of the Imperial Cadet Corps, in which capacity he qualified for the Delhi Durbar Medal in the following year and, having then assumed command of the Corps in 1906, he was placed on the Retired List as a Major in July 1911.

By the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, Cameron was employed by Messrs. Cox & Co., and acted as the bank’s military representative out in France later that year, but he did not qualify for the 1914 Star since he did ‘not serve on the establishment of a unit of the B.E.F.’ (his MIC entry refers). He was next appointed a Staff Officer in the War Office, rising to be a G.S.O. 2 in the Department of the Director-General of Military Aeronautics, which latter office dealt with home defence issues and in the selection of candidates for the Royal Flying Corps. Cameron was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 13 March 1918 refers) and awarded the O.B.E., and was placed on the Unemployed List in the temporary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in February 1919; his MIC entry also reveals his entitlement to the Victory Medal 1914-19. He died in August 1932.