A rare Great War ‘Murmansk’ M.C. group of nine awarded to Captain C. P. Smith, King’s Royal Rifle Corps

Military Cross, G.V.R.; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, South Africa 1902 (8802 Sgt., K.R.R.C.); 1914-15 Star (2. Lieut., K.R. Rif. C.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaf (Capt.); Defence Medal; Delhi Durbar 1911 (8802 R.Q.M.S., K.R.R.C.); Jubilee 1935, the edge inscribed ‘Major C. P. Smith, Q.V. Rifles’; Army Long Service and Good Conduct, G.V.R., 1st issue (8802 Q.M. Sjt., K.R.R.C.) the Q.S.A. with unofficially impressed naming, identical in style to the naming on the Delhi Durbar, some contact wear, generally very fine or better (9) £500-600

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection formed by Peter Wardrop.

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M.C. London Gazette 23 July 1919. ‘...for distinguished service in connection with military operations in Murmansk, North Russia.’

M.I.D. requires confirmation.

Clement P. Smith enlisted into the 4th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps sometime in 1895, qualifying for the award of the Army L.S. & G.C. Medal in 1913. During the Great War he saw service in France and Belgium, 20 December 1914 to 24 January 1915, 4 March 1915 to 11 May 1915, and June to 11 November 1918; Greek Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, European Turkey, and the Islands of the Aegean Sea, 20 July 1917 to June 1918. During this period he was wounded. The Regimental Chronicle states that the award of his M.C. was made for services in North Russia in 1919, during which time he was Second in Command of the detachment of K.R.R.C. present there. On retiring from the army he took up the post of Secretary and Quarter Master to the Queen Victoria Rifles, retiring in 1937. He died on 17 December 1956.

Smith’s alleged service during the Boer War comes into question, as his name does not appear on the Q.S.A. medal roll for the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, nor does he list any services there, under his entry in Services of Military Officers 1920. It is therefore entirely possible that he is not entitled to the Q.S.A.