The Allan and Janet Woodliffe Collection of Medals Relating to the Reconquest and Pacification of the Sudan

The Arab Bureau O.B.E. group of seven awarded to Major Alexander Wise, Connaught Rangers, who was severely wounded at Colenso before joining the Egyptian Army and serving on the Nyima patrol and afterwards with the Arab Bureau: in later life he settled in Egypt until thrown out by Nasser in 1956, along with all the other old hands who had served the country so well

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, 1st type Officer’s (O.B.E.) Civil Division, silver-gilt, hallmarks for London 1916; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Tugela Height, Relief of Ladysmith (Lieut., 1st Connaught Rang.); British War and Victory Medals (Major); Ottoman Empire, Order of Osmania, 4th Class breast badge, silver-gilt and enamel, enamel damage; Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, 1 clasp, Nyima, unnamed, these mounted for display; Egypt, Order of the Nile, 3rd Class neck badge, silver, silver-gilt and enamel, lacking reverse centre, good very fine except where stated (7) £1500-1800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Allan and Janet Woodliffe Collection of Medals relating to the Reconquest and Pacification of The Sudan 1896-1956.

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O.B.E. London Gazette 5 December 1919. Chief Inspector of Nizam, Ministry of the Interior.

Order of the Nile, 3rd Class London Gazette 26 December 1916. Chief Inspector of Mines, Ministry of the Interior, Cairo.

Order of Osmania, 4th Class London Gazette 28 January 1913. Valuable service with the Egyptian Army.

M.I.D. London Gazette 5 June 1919. Egypt.

Wise was born on 2 February 1875, the son of AJP Wise, a merchant of Haywards Heath. He was educated at Marlborough College, Wiltshire from January 1888. He attended Sandhurst – where he passed out at the same time as Winston Churchill – but with better marks! Commissioned 2Lt. in the Connaught Rangers on 6 March 1895 and Lt. on 3 June 1895.

He was present at the Relief of Ladysmith, including the actions at Colenso: operations of 17 - 24 January 1900, and the action at Spion Kop. Operations of 5 to 7 February 1900, and action at Vaal Kranz. He was severely wounded by a gunshot wound through the left thigh, during the abortive attempt to capture Pieter's Hill on 23 February 1900, during the battle of Colenso, as part of the operations on the Tugela Heights, was invalided home, and given sick leave until 9 August 1901. He was awarded one year’s pay as a gratuity for his wound. Captain 21 March 1903. Adjutant 4th Bn. Connaught Rangers. Wise spoke French, Hindustani and Arabic.

He was seconded to the EA on 17 September 1904 and served with the 1st, 4th, 16th and Arab Bns. EA. He also served many years with the Hagana (Egyptian Frontier Force) reaching the rank of Kaimakam (Lt. Col.) He was one of approximately 27 British officers who served with the force under Kaimakam Lempriere Bey in the Jebel Nyima expedition in 1908.

Kordofan Dist. 1 October 1906 to 24 April 1909. Kassala Dist. 9 September 1909 to 18 December 1912.

At one time he suffered the embarrassment of having to put one of his men on a charge for spitting at the famous Slatin Pasha. When asked why he had done this, the culprit replied that he could not respect a man who changed his religion to save his skin. (When a prisoner of the Khalifa, Slatin became a Moslem, but reverted to Christianity after his escape.) After Slatin had departed, Wise quietly dropped the charge.

Wise retired on 5 February 1913, on a pension of £160 p.a., and was then employed by the Ministry of the Interior, Cairo.

Recalled as Captain on Special Appointment (Staff Officer) 5 August 1914, serving in Egypt with the Arab Bureau (Intelligence Dept.) under Colonel Clayton. He must have been involved as an inspector of mines – see Nile citation. To unemployed List 31 August 1919, served as an admin. officer with the Camel Remount Dept. until his discharge to the Reserve of Officers in October 1920. Mentioned in Despatches London Gazette, 4 June 1919. For his services with the Arab Bureau he was awarded an OBE in December 1919, and a 3rd class Order of the Nile.

With a folder containing copied research.

Wise Bey, as he was known, was a popular figure in the Sudan and Egypt for over half a century. He took up an appointment as Inspector-General of Nizam Ghafirs (Reserve police) a part of the Ministry of the Interior, until 1924, having married Rebecca Hope Glichrist on 18 February 1923. Major in the Reserve of Officers, 29 November 1922, with seniority of 23 September 1914.

On retirement from public service, he became Secretary of the Association of British Manufacturers, in Cairo. He lived at #8 Sh. Sheikh Barakat, Cairo. Maj. A. Wise, having attained the age limit of liability to recall, ceased to belong to the Reserve of Officers 2 February 1925.

He was commissioned into the Cairo Bn. RAC of the Civil Defence Force on 19 June 1940 at the age of 65! Having enrolled in the Army Officer Emergency Reserve (Abroad) he was recalled for war service on 2 July 1942, however it was soon realised that he was now actually 67 years old, so he was discharged on 29 September.

He was living in quiet retirement in Egypt, until in common with most British citizens, at the time of the Suez crisis in 1956, he and his wife were expelled from Egypt by Nasser, - being allowed to take only one suitcase. They were forced to leave behind the accumulated possessions of a lifetime of service to Egypt and the Sudan for “liberation” by the local police. He was 81 years old.

Wise died on 22 April 1973, at the age of 98. Registered at St. Marylebone, London. Rebecca died two years later.