Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Hon. Lieutenant-Colonel A. M. Scott, Scots Guards, who was wounded in a V.C. action on the Western Front and later served as Gold Staff Officer at Buckingham Palace

British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. A. M. Scott); Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Coronation 1953, mounted as worn, very fine and better (5) £150-200

Alexander Malcolm Scott was originally commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 7th (Service) Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry, but transferred to the Scots Guards in early 1915.

Embarked for France in Spring of the following year, he saw action at Wieltje, near Ypres, on 19 April 1916, when his unit came under heavy bombardment, Scott holding a battered length of trench with 20 men against the advance of the enemy - about 25 of the latter were caught by our guns and wiped out.

Then in November 1917, at Cambrai, after having been advanced to Lieutenant in ‘C’ Company of the 1st Battalion, he was wounded while advancing against a ‘hornet’s nest of snipers and machine-gun posts’ at Fontaine, on which occasion, in lieu of all the officers being killed or wounded, command of the Company fell to Sergeant John McAulay, D.C.M. - the latter was awarded the V.C. on the recommendation of his C.O., Major Sir Victor MacKenzie, Scott’s name also appearing in the list of those commended for their gallantry, but to no avail; see The Scots Guards in the Great War, by Petre, Ewart and Lowther, for further details.

Placed on the Regular Army Reserve of Officers after the War, he was recalled on the renewal of hostilities and attained the war substantive rank of Major in June 1942. Placed back on the Reserve in the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, he subsequently received the Coronation Medal 1953 for his services as Gold Staff Officer, Buckingham Palace (the official roll refers). He was also Master of the Worshipful Company of Distillers 1957-58.