Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 Major H. S. Lockhart-Ross, 5/Lanc: Fus:) engraved naming, minor edge nicks, nearly extremely fine £300-£400

Provenance: H. Y. Usher Collection, 1975.

Henry Stuart Lockhart-Ross, Hereditary Armour-Bearer to the King, and Squire of the Royal Body in Scotland, was born in 1857, the son of the Reverend John Lockhart-Ross and his wife Isabella, daughter of Sir Reginald Seton Steuart, Bt., of Allanton. He was commissioned Captain in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, in 1891, before transferring to the 5th (Militia) Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, and served as Second in Command of the Battalion in South Africa during the Boer War, during operations in the Orange River Colony, June to July 1901, and in Cape Colony, July 1901 to 1902. Whilst in South Africa he was employed as Commandant of the fortified posts and block-houses at Jagersfontein, Stormburg, and Aliwal North, and for his services he was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 29 July 1902), the General Officer Commanding noting ‘the excellent state of the block-houses of the 5th Battalion, and the speed with which they executed immediate works.’

Promoted Lieutenant-Colonel and Honorary Colonel on 31 March 1905, Lockhart-Ross served as Commanding Officer of the 5th Battalion in 1906. In civilian life he was employed as Land Agent to Sir Maurice Fitzgerald at Buckland in Berkshire, and in 1927 was granted a Testimonial on Vellum from the Royal Humane Society, and also received the Carnegie Hero Certificate, for gallantly (but sadly unsuccessfully) attempting to save a girl from drowning at sea.

Lockhart-Ross inherited the Allanton estate on the death of his cousin, Sir Douglas Seton Steuart, Bt., in 1930, the Baronetcy becoming extinct. He died of blood poisoning in London on 6 August 1935, aged 78.

Sold with a photographic image of the recipient, and copied research.

The photograph of the recipient in the catalogue is believed to actually be of another officer in the Royal Artillery.