Lot Archive

Lot

№ 743

.

22 June 1999

Hammer Price:
£3,300

A 1903 Delhi Durbar C.B. group of six awarded to Colonel H. F. Lyons-Montgomery, Bengal Army

The Most Honourable Order of The Bath (Military) C.B., breast badge, silver-gilt and enamels; Delhi Durbar 1903, silver; Afghanistan 1878-80, 3 clasps, Charasia, Kabul, Kandahar (Lt., 28th Ben. N.I.); Kabul to Kandahar Star 1880 (Lieut., Exee. Comt. Offr. Bengal); India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Hazara 1891 (Captn., S.C.) official corrections to rank and unit; India General Service 1895-1902, 2 clasps, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Tirah 1897-98 (Major, Comst. Transpt. Dept.) mounted as worn, generally very fine or better (6) £1500-2000

Hugh Frederick Lyons-Montgomery was born on 4 January 1856, son of Lieut-Colonel Dtewart Lambert Lyons-Montgomery, late 10th Hussars. He was appointed 2nd Lieutenant in the 33rd (Duke of Wellington’s) Regiment on 13 January 1874; Lieutenant, 13 January 1875. He joined the Bengal Staff Corps in September 1877 and served during the Afghan War of 1878-80, with the 28th Bengal Native Infantry, and with the Commissariat Department of the Force under Major-General F. S. Roberts, V.C.; present at the action of Matoun and at the Battle of Charasia on 6 October 1879; in the operations at and around Kabul, from 10th-23rd December 1879; took part in the march from Kabul to Kandahar, 9th-31st August, and was present at the Battle of Kandahar on 1st September 1880. He was mentioned in despatches by General Roberts (London Gazette 3 December 1880) and received the Medal with 3 clasps and the Bronze Star.

He served as Chief Commissariat Officer of the Force under Major-General W. K. Elles, C.B., in the Hazara Expedition of 1891, including operations against the Hassanzais and Akazais in the Black Mountain district, March to May (Despatches
London Gazette 29 October 1891, Brevet of Major, Medal and clasp). He was Divisional Commissariat Officer of the 2nd Division during the Tirah Expedition 1897-98, including operations in the Bara Valley, 7-14 December 1897, where the 2nd Division was engaged in heavy rear-guard fighting with numerous casualties (Despatches London Gazette 5 April 1898, Brevet of Lieutenant Colonel, Medal with 2 clasps). Colonel Lyons-Montgomery was a Member of the Planning Committee for the Delhi Durbar 1903 and was subsequently created C.B. in recognition of these services in 1906. He retired in 1908 and became a J.P. for co. Inverness in Scotland. During the Great War he was a Military Member of the Medical Board in connection with recruiting for the Southern Command, and was Chief Recruiting Officer in Birmingham. He died at West Moors, Dorset in October 1931.