A rare inter-war civil M.B.E. awarded to Mr. D. A. T. Lee, Foreign Office, for services in the Addis Ababa disturbances of 1936

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Civil) Member’s 2nd type breast badge, in its Royal Mint case of issue, extremely fine £350-400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Bill and Angela Strong Medal Collection.

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M.B.E. London Gazette 1 February 1937:

‘Donald Arthur Thomas Lee, Esq., employed at His Majesty’s Consulate-General at Addis Ababa.’

Lee was appointed a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Signals in July 1940, a War Substantive Lieutenant in January 1942 and Temporary Captain in August 1943, and was awarded the Defence & War Medals.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s M.B.E. warrant, mounted on card, in the name of ‘Donald Arthur Thomas Lee’ and dated 1 February 1937; a visiting card, named to ‘Mr. Don Lee, M.B.E., Foreign Office, London’; a letter to the recipient from the British Consulate-General, Addis Ababa, dated 1 February 1937, informing him that the M.B.E. had been conferred upon him ‘in recognition of valuable services which you rendered during the recent disturbances in Addis Ababa’; a studio photograph of the recipient wearing his M.B.E., probably taken shortly after his investiture, and a War Office letter of thanks to ‘Captain D. A. T. Lee, M.B.E., Royal Corps of Signals’, dated 31 July 1946, upon his release from military duty.