Six: Captain J. W. Stephens, Lincolnshire Regiment

Queen’s Sudan 1896-98 (3118 Sgt. O.R.S. J. W. Stephens. 1/Lin. R.); British War Medal 1914-20 (Capt. J. W. Stephens.); Delhi Durbar 1911, silver, unnamed as issued; Army L.S. & G.C., E.VII.R. (3118 Q.M. Sjt: J. W. Stephens. Linc: Regt.); Army Meritorious Service Medal, G.VI.R., 1st issue (Q.M. Sjt. J. W. Stephens. Linc. R.) surname corrected; Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, 1 clasp, The Atbara (3118 O.R. Sergt. J. W. Stephens. 1st. Linc. R.) contemporarily engraved naming in the usual Regimental style, last with unofficial top retaining rod, the Sudan pair very fine, the rest good very fine and better (6) £500-£700

John William Stephens was born in Clontarf, Dublin, in 1870 and attested for the Lincolnshire Regiment at Dublin on 26 May 1892. Advanced Sergeant on 9 May 1896, and appointed Orderly Room Sergeant on 24 February 1898, he served with the 1st Battalion in Egypt and the Sudan from 4 February to 8 July 1897, and again from 8 October 1897 to 7 November 1898, taking part in the Nile Expedition of 1898 and being present at the Battle of the Atbara, 8 April 1898.

Proceeding to India on 8 November 1898, he served for the next 12 years in the sub-continent, being advanced Quartermaster Sergeant on 28 November 1903, and was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal with Gratuity on 1 October 1910. He is also confirmed as having received the Delhi Durbar Medal 1911. After nearly two years in Aden he returned home on 1 November 1912, and was discharged at Portsmouth on 25 May 1913, after 21 years’ service. He served with the Lincolnshire Regiment and subsequently with the Indian Defence Corps at home and in India during the Great War (entitled to a British War Medal only), and was finally awarded his Meritorious Service Medal per Army Order 187 of 1941.

For the recipient’s miniature awards, and the recipient’s son’s miniature awards, see Lots 644 and 640.