Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An impressive civil C.B., C.B.E., Great War M.C. group of eleven awarded to Colonel L. Green, who was wounded with the 4/East Lancashire Regiment in Gallipoli: afterwards High Sheriff of Lancashire and Commandant of the Lancashire Special Constabulary - he also led Lancashire’s Cricket XI to three successive county championship victories in the late 1920s

The Most Honourable Order of The Bath, C.B. (Civil) Companion’s neck badge, silver-gilt, hallmarks for London 1936; The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Civil) Commander’s 2nd type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel; Military Cross, G.V.R.; 1914-15 Star (Lieut. L. Green, E. Lan. R.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. L. Green); Defence Medal 1939-45; Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937; Territorial Decoration, G.V.R., silver, silver-gilt; Special Constabulary Long Service, G.VI.R., with Bar for ‘Long Service 1950’ (Comdt. Leonard Green), minor contact marks, generally good very fine (11)
£1800-2000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals The Property of a Gentleman.

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C.B. London Gazette 11 May 1937.

C.B.E. London Gazette 13 June 1959.

M.C. London Gazette 23 April 1918:

‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty whilst assisting in extinguishing a fire at the brigade ammunition dump. On hearing that an officer of his company had been severely wounded, he at once went 60 yards across the open, under heavy shell fire, and helped to bring him to the rear aid post, carrying one end of the stretcher himself.’

Leonard Green was born at Whalley, Lancashire, in February 1890, and was educated at Bromsgrove School, Worcestershire, where he was a member of the O.T.C. On leaving school in 1910, he joined the family firm of cotton manufacturers, in addition to being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 4th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment (Territorial Force).

Mobilised with his unit on the outbreak of hostilities, he was embarked for Egypt in October 1914, and saw action in Gallipoli, where he was wounded in the shoulder during a charge in the battle of Krithia on 4 June 1915 - though under very heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, Green still managed to reach the third line of enemy trenches; he subsequently wrote several articles for The Clitheroe Times and Advertiser, describing the experiences of his Battalion in the Peninsula.

Evacuated to Malta, he was next embarked for France, where, in November 1917, he won his M.C. for the above cited deeds at White House Farm, Nieuport, in November 1917. Moreover, he went on to witness further active service as a Machine-Gun Instructor with the British Military Mission in Siberia in 1919.

Remaining a keen member of the Territorials between the Wars, he was advanced to Major in 1921, Lieutenant-Colonel in 1928, Brevet Colonel in 1932, and Colonel in October 1934, in which latter year he was appointed to the command of the 125th (Lancashire Fusiliers) Brigade, T.A. And it was in the latter capacity that he was awarded his Jubilee and Coronation Medals (the official rolls refer).

Green was also one of the best all round sportsman the Clitheroe District has produced, first having won a place in Lancashire’s 2nd Cricket XI in 1910. And from 1922-35, he played in the county’s 1st XI, captaining the team during the years 1926-28, when it won the County Championship three times in succession - during his career with Lancashire he played in 152 matches, scoring 5,575 runs, with a highest score of 110 not out against Gloucestershire in 1923. He also played hockey for Lancashire in 1920, as well as rugby football in representative games.

Colonel Green was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire in 1935 and was awarded the C.B. in 1937 for his work with the Territorials. Having then served as Commandant of the Lancashire Special Constabulary during the 1939-45 War, for which he received an M.B.E. (London Gazette 9 January 1946, refers), he was appointed High Sheriff for Lancashire in 1954 and awarded the C.B.E. in the following year for services as Chairman of the County Civil Defence Committee. The Colonel died in March 1963; sold with a full file of research, including several copy photographs and transcripts of numerous newspaper articles, among the latter the above mentioned Gallipoli features he wrote for The Clitheroe Times and Advertiser.