Orders, Decorations and Medals

The important group of Orders and Medals awarded to Field Marshal Sir Cyril Deverell, G.C.B., K.B.E., Chief of the Imperial General Staff, late WestYorkshire Regiment

THE MOST HONOURABLE ORDER OF THE BATH, G.C.B. (Military) Grand Cross set by Garrard, the sash badge in silver-gilt and enamels, minor enamel damage to green enamel wreath and lacking the 'Ich Dien' scroll on reverse; the breast star in silver with gold and enamel applique centre, the set in its Garrard & Co. case of issue complete with sashes for full and evening dress; THEMOST EXCELLENT ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, K.B.E. (Military) 1st type set in its Garrard & Co. case of issue; ASHANTI STAR 1896, the reverse correctly engraved in the regimental style (2nd Lt., 2 W. Yorks. R.); 1914-15 STAR (Capt.); BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS, M.I.D. (Maj.Gen.); DELHI DURBAR 1911, unnamed; JUBILEE 1935, privately engraved (Genl. Sir, K.C.B., K.B.E.); CORONATION 1937, unnamed; France LEGION OF HONOUR, 4th class breast badge in gold and enamels, white enamel chipped on one reverse arm; France CROIX DE GUERRE 1914-1918, with bronze palm, the group mounted as worn, generally very fine or better (13)

Also included in the lot are the following related items:
(a) The official Warrants for the recipient's C.B. (1918), K.C.B. (1929), G.C.B. (1935) and K.B.E. (1926), with various letters regarding investitures etc. The K.C.B. Warrant is of some historic interest in that it is signed by both Prince Edward (later Edward VIII) and Prince Albert (later George VI) acting on their father's behalf during King George V's serious illness in 1928-29.

(b) The Warrant for the Legion d'Honneur (dated 7th April 1917); together with the official citation and other documents regarding the award of the French Croix de Guerre; the latter citation draws attention to Deverell's distinguished conduct at the head of his elite division, particularly at Arras (April 1917), Henin-sur-Cojeul (March 1918) and during the 1918 Offensive.

(c) Sir John's Warrant of Appointment as a Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Hampshire (1941).

(d) Miscellaneous military badges, buttons and items of uniform insignia mad. several bearing the cypher of Edward VIII; sundry ribbons and an infantry officer's red dress sash.

(e) Sundry documents, etc., including Statutes of the Order of the Bath; Order of Service for the 1937 Coronation, and the Coronation Souvenir issue of the Illustrated London News; two large portrait photographs of Deverell in uniform; Deverell's Commission as 2nd Lieut. (1895), and King George Vl's telegram to Lady Deverell on the death of her husband.

Cyril John Deverell was born in St. Peter Port, Guernsey, 9th November, 1874, the son of Lieutenant (later Major) John Baines Seddon Deverell and his wife, Harriet Strappini Roberts. He was educated at Bedford School and in 1895 was gazetted a second lieutenant in the 2nd battalion, the West Yorkshire Regiment. In the autumn of the same year he accompanied his battalion to West Africa to take part in the bloodless Ashanti campaign. Shortly afterwards he transferred to the 1st battalion in India, and thereby lost his chance to serve in South Africa. In 1902 he married Hilda, daughter of Lieutenant-General Gerald Grant-Dalton, who was his commanding officer. In 1906 he received a special nomination to the Staff College at Quetta and afterwards held several junior staff appointments in India with marked success.

When war broke out in 1914 Deverell was in England, and in the autumn he was at Winchester where the 28th division, a K-1 division, was assembling. He went out to France as one of its brigade-majors early in the new year. Abrupt in manner and somewhat retiring, Deverell was at his best in the field. There, by his force of character and obvious gift of command, this tall, well-built man inspired confidence in all around him. In two years of war he rose from captain to major-general; in four years he received three brevets and seven mentions in despatches. After gaining invaluable experience as a brigade-major throughout the second battle of Ypres in the spring of 1915, Deverell was given command of the 4th battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment. There followed four strenuous months as a battalion commander in the trenches, which fitted him for the command of the 20th brigade of the 7th Division. He led his brigade successfully in two of the opening operations of the battle of the Somme and was promoted once more-this time to command the 3rd division. In 1916, on the Somme and at Ancre, in1917 at the battles of Arras, Ypres and Cambrai, and in 1918, throughout the German offensives in Picardy and Flanders and the victorious allied advance, he commanded his division with the greatest distinction.

In 1919 Deverell was back in England commanding the Welsh division (Territorial Army). Two years later he went to India to command the United Provinces district for four years and in 1927 he was appointed quarter-master-general in India. After three years in this exacting post, during which he was promoted lieutenant-general, he became Chief of the General Staff in Delhi. His long record of distinguished staff work, particularly in these two appointments at Army Headquarters, India, showed that he was no less gifted as an organiser than as a commander in the field.

In 1931 Deverell came home once more, to take over the Western Command. Two years later he was promoted General and transferred to the Eastern Command. In the army manoeuvres of 1935 he commanded one of the two opposing corps. The appointment of Chief of the Imperial General Staff was about to fall vacant. Deverell was an obvious candidate, and so too was the opposing commander, who was the only rival then visible in the military firmament. To both commanders, therefore, and to the army generally, these manoeuvres assumed a particular significance. In the outcome it was Deverell who won a sweeping victory by a remarkably subtle manoeuvre. No surprise was felt, therefore, when in October 1935 he was named successor to Sir Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd.

In 1936 Deverell was promoted Field-Marshal and took up his new appointment as Chief of the Imperial General Staff. He received the only Field Marshal's baton to be presented by King Edward VIII during his brief reign in 1936. At that time the British army, through long neglect and financial starvation, had reached its nadir. Both Regular and Territorial armies were so short of men that they were little more than shadows. As for equipment, much of it was obsolete, and much more wholly lacking. Deverell set himself to do whatever man could do to improve the situation. In 1937 there came a new Secretary of State who, convinced of the imminence of war with Germany, was bent on building a new army in the shortest possible time. He felt that, to further his reforms, he needed a younger Army Council, and at the end of the year Deverell, who was sixty-three, was summarily replaced. In retirement at Lymington where he was greatly respected Deverell took a leading part in local affairs. He was on the borough council and chairman of the defence committee during the war. He died at Court Lodge, Lymington, 12th May, 1947.