Orders, Decorations and Medals

A rare Second World War K.C.B., Great War Greek mainland operations D.S.C. group of seventeen awarded to Admiral Sir Arthur Palliser, Royal Navy: having been decorated for his command of a seamen company in a costly action in Athens in December 1916, he rose to senior command in the 1939-45 War - including service as a Chief of Staff to the C.-in-C. Far East at the time of the loss of the Prince of Wales and Repulse

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, K.C.B. (Military) Knight Commander’s set of insignia, comprising neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, and breast star, silver, with gold, gilt and enamel centre, in its Garrard & Co. case of issue; Distinguished Service Cross, G.V.R., hallmarks for London 1918; 1914-15 Star (Lieut. A. F. E. Palliser, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oakleaf (Lieut. A. F. E. Palliser, R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Pacific Star; Defence Medal 1939-45; War Medal 1939-45, M.I.D. oakleaf; Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937; The Netherlands, Order of Orange Nassau, Grand Officer’s set of insignia, with swords, comprising neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, and breast star, silver, with gilt and enamel centre, in its case of issue; France, Croix de Guerre 1914-1915, with bronze palm, together with a set of related miniature dress medals, and three sets of mounted tunic ribands, the centre-piece of the Orange Nassau breast star chipped, otherwise generally good very fine or better (Lot) £3500-4000

K.C.B. London Gazette 1 January 1945.

D.S.C. London Gazette 23 March 1917. The original recommendation states:

‘Lieutenant A. F. E. Palliser was in charge of a detachment of Exmouth’s seamen at the Zappeion.’

Arthur Frances Eric Palliser was born in Richmond, London in July 1890 and was educated at Bradfield College, and the R.N.Cs Dartmouth and Greenwich. Appointed Sub. Lieutenant in March 1910, and advanced to Lieutenant one year later, he was commanding the destroyer H.M.S. Albacore on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914. Shortly thereafter, however, he came ashore to an appointment at the gunnery establishment Excellent, but he returned to sea in the flotilla leader Exmouth in February 1915, and witnessed active service in the Dardanelles.

So, too, in the landing at Piraeus, Greece on 1 December 1916, when he had charge of the seaman company which came under fire from Greek troops, an incident described in detail in Blumberg’s Britain’s Sea Soldiers. On that day, an Anglo-French force comprising 3,000 seamen and marines landed at Piraeus in the early morning hours, and proceeded inland to occupy a variety of prominent defensive features - Palliser and his men were charged with taking possession of the Zappeion, about one kilometre east of the Acropolis, a task successfully accomplished in spite of intermittent fire throughout the day. Indeed local opposition proved costly, the Allied force suffering casualties of 60 officers and men killed, and 167 wounded, prior to a negotiated withdrawal back to the harbour at the end of the day.

Palliser was awarded the D.S.C. and remained actively employed in the Exmouth until returning to the gunnery establishment Excellent in September 1917. His final wartime appointment was in the cruiser Comus, in which capacity he was employed from February 1918 until the end of hostilities.

Gaining steady advancement between the Wars - thus to Commander in December 1924 and to Captain in June 1931 - he served as Chief of Staff to the C.-in-C. China 1936-38, and, on the renewal of hostilities in September 1939, was once more serving at the gunnery establishment Excellent.

Then in May 1940, he was appointed to the command of the battleship Malaya, in which capacity he witnessed extensive action in the Mediterranean, up until March of the following year, when his command was seriously damaged by a torpedo strike delivered by the U-106 - due to heavy flooding, the battleship took on a list of 7 degrees, but Palliser managed to nurse her into port in Trinidad. In the interim, the Malaya had escorted assorted Malta convoys and carried out bombardments of Italian positions at Bardia in August 1940 and of Genoa harbour in February 1941, on which latter occasion one of her 15-inch armour piercing shells hit the south-east corner of the Genoa Cathedral’s nave - luckily the relatively soft masonry failed to detonate the fuse and the shell remains on view in the nave to this day.

With Malaya effectively out of action for repairs, Palliser was advanced to Rear-Admiral and appointed Chief of Staff to the C.-in-C. Far East, in which capacity he remained employed until 1942, a period encompassing the loss of the Repulse and the Prince of Wales. Much has been written about the loss of Force Z, so, too, of Palliser’s role as Chief of Staff to Admiral Sir Tom Phillips, who was flying his flag in the Prince of Wales. To all intents and purposes, it fell to Palliser to “read” the movements being made by his senior at sea, radio contact being prohibited until the enemy had been joined in battle, and to provide his senior with intelligence reports. In the circumstances, therefore, Palliser actually performed his duties adequately, and, in fairness, the fateful decision not to engage the support of the Royal Air Force rested more heavily on the shoulders of Phillips - a conclusion reached by Patrick Mahoney and Martin Middlebrook in their definitive history - Battleship:

‘It is sometimes suggested that Rear-Admiral Palliser, Phillips’s Chief of Staff at Singapore, was the one to blame for the disaster that followed, having failed to read his commander’s mind and to arrange for air patrols to be over Force Z at Kuantan that morning. We cannot agree with this view. Palliser and Phillips had been together for six weeks, and Phillips had had ample opportunity to ensure that Palliser was ‘tuned in’ to his likely movements and needs. No one in Prince of Wales has ever stated that Admiral Phillips showed any sign of disappointment that Palliser failed to provide fighters for him that morning ... ’

Appointed to the Staff of the C.-in-C. India later that year, Palliser was awarded the Grand Officer’s grade of the Order of Orange Nassau for his services to the Dutch Navy while on detachment to the Staff of Admiral Hart, U.S.N. (London Gazette 19 January 1943); a “mention” for his good work in S.W. Pacific (London Gazette 2 February 1943), and the C.B. for his subsequent work as Flag Liaison Officer in Delhi (London Gazette 2 June 1943).

Having then briefly commanded the 1st Cruiser Squadron, Palliser was advanced to Vice-Admiral in February 1944, and served as a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and Chief of Supplies and Transport 1944-46, work that led to his appointment to K.C.B., which insignia he received at an investiture at Buckingham Palace on 8 February 1945.

Latterly C.-in-C. East Indies Station, Palliser was advanced to Admiral in May 1947 and was placed on the Retired List in the following year. He died in Kensington, London in February 1956.

Sold with Twelve Years’ Military Adventure, Volume I (London, 1829), with ink inscription, ‘A. F. E. Palliser, London, 1951’, together with The Order of Merit, by Stanley Martin (London, 2007), with author’s presentation inscription to Bridget Rendel.