A Great War ‘Western Front’ M.C. and Second Award Bar group of four awarded to Captain R. C. R. Kane, Royal Irish Rifles, late Prince Alfred’s Volunteer Guard and Royal Dublin Fusiliers, later Resident Commissioner of the Solomon Islands Protectorate at the time of the Malaita massacre

Military Cross, G.V.R., with Second Award Bar, the reverse of the Cross contemporarily engrave ‘Captain R. R. Kane 9th Royal Irish Rifles. N.E. Wulverghen 15-16 Sept. 1916.; Cape of Good Hope General Service 1880-97, 1 clasp, Bechuanaland (Corpl. R. R. Kane. P.A.V. Guard.) renamed; British War and Victory Medals (Capt. R. C. R. Kane.) mounted as worn, light contact marks, very fine (4) £1,400-£1,800

M.C. London Gazette 14 November 1916:
‘For conspicuous gallantry during a successful raid. He commanded the left flank party, killed one of the enemy with this revolver, bombed three occupied dug-outs, and held up an enemy counter-attack till ordered to withdraw.’

M.C. Second Award Bar London Gazette 17 September 1917:
‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. During an advance he organised and rallied under his command stragglers from other units, and captured a large number of prisoners from hostile strong points and dug-outs. He also displayed the utmost skill and judgement in consolidating his objective under heavy shell fire, and established communication to flanks and rear within five minutes of reaching his objective.’

Richard Cecil Rutledge Kane was born in Belfast on 21 September 1877, the son of Church of Ireland Minister and Orange Order Grand Master Richard Rutledge Kane, and reputedly served in the Prince Alfred’s Volunteer Guard during the Bechuanaland Campaign, although his name does not appear on the latest published transcript of the medal roll. Prior to the Great War he was a District Commissioned in the Fiji Islands, and served in the Colony’s Legislative Council.

Returning to the U.K. following the outbreak of the Great War, Kane was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers on 16 November 1915. He transferred to the Royal Irish Rifles in July 1916 and served with them on the Western Front, being awarded the Military Cross in 1916, and a Second Award Bar the following year. He finished the war with the rank of captain.

Post-War, Kane served as the United Kingdom’s fourth Resident Commissioner of the Solomon Islands Protectorate from 1921 to 1929; it was his speech about the benefits of the new tax per head that helped prompt the Malaita massacre, which resulted in the murder of 15 British officials. A punitive expedition was swiftly launched, which led to the detention and resettlement on a separate island of 200 of the perpetrators. Retiring to New South Wales, Australia, Kane died at Manly on 2 November 1958.

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