Orders, Decorations and Medals

A mounted group of nine miniature dress medals attributed to Vice-Admiral Hon. Arthur Stopford, Royal Navy

The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, gold and enamel, ring suspension; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 1 clasp, Cape Colony; 1914 Star; British War and Victory Medals; Jubilee 1897(?), silver; Coronation 1911, silver; France, Legion of Honour, 4th Class, silver-gilt and enamel, rosette on ribbon; Russia, Order of St. Stanislaus, with swords, silver-gilt and enamel, mounted as worn, good very fine (9) £200-260

Arthur Stopford was born on 29 April 1879, the second son of the 6th Earl of Courtown. Educated at Stubbington House and H.M.S. Britannia. Entering the Royal Navy, he served in the Boer War as a Sub-Lieutenant on H.M.S. Monarch and then on special despatch duty on chartered transports. Promoted to Lieutenant in 1901; Commander in 1912; Captain in 1917 and Rear-Admiral in 1929. During the Great War he was appointed to the R.N.A.S. in 1917 and appointed a Colonel in the R.A.F. in 1918, returning to the Royal Navy in 1919. Served as Naval Attaché to the U.S.A., 1925-28. Placed on the Retired List in 1929 and promoted to Vice-Admiral on the Retired List in 1934. Latterly living at 57 Whitecroft Way, Beckenham, Kent; he died on 25 May 1955.

With a large portrait photograph of the recipient in uniform wearing medals, this signed by the Vice-Admiral and dated 1939; photograph in a broken wooden frame, 40 x 29cm. Medals contained in a wooden glass-fronted case, 25 x 16.5cm.