Orders, Decorations and Medals

A C.B.E., D.S.O., M.C. group of eleven awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel H.M. Meyler, Middlesex Regiment, Royal Flying Corps and Border Regiment, an elected Member of the First Parliament of the Union of South Africa

ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, C.B.E., 1st type neck badge; DISTINGUISHED SERVICE ORDER, G.V.R.; MILITARY CROSS, G.V.R.; QUEEN'S SOUTH AFRICA 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Rhodesia, Orange Free State, Transvaal (Lieut., Middx. Rgt.); KING'S SOUTH AFRICA, 2 clasps (Lt., Middx. Rgt.); UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA 1910, unnamed as issued; 1914-15 STAR (Capt., Middx. R.); BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS, M.I.D. (Lt. Col., R.A.F.); Belgium, ORDER OF LEOPOLD I, 5th class breast badge with swords and silver palm; Belgium, CROIX DE GUERRE, with bronze palm, very fine or better (11)

C.B.E., London Gazette, 1 January, 1923.

D.S.O., London Gazette, 1 January, 1919.

M.C., London Gazette, 23 June, 1915.

Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Mowbray Meyler, C.B.E., D.S.O., M.C., was born near Taunton, Somerset in June 1875 and educated at King's College, Taunton and at All Hallows Grammar School, Honiton. He enrolled as a solicitor of the Supreme Court but volunteered for service in South Africa on the outbreak of the Boer War, joining the 67th Company, Imperial Yeomanry as a trooper. Attached to the Rhodesian Field Force, he subsequently spent nearly two years on active service with the mounted infantry. Settling in Natal after the War, having received a commission in the Middlesex Regiment, Meyler set up his own Law Practice, and was largely responsible for organising the campaign in favour of the Union of Natal, 1909-10. He was consequently elected a Member of the First Parliament of the Union of South Africa. On the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, Meyler returned home to enrol with his old regiment, the Middlesex, joining the 5th Battalion as a Captain in September. He was subsequently attached to the 4th Battalion and sent out to France in early 1915. Although no citation was published with the announcement of his M.C. in the London Gazette, the War Diary of the 4th Middlesex makes reference to his bravery in observing the enemy positions in the Kemmel-Vierstraat sector during January and February. As commander of 'A' Company, in K2 trench, he observed for a British seige battery which successfully knocked out an enemy machine-gun post opposite the Company's positions. Then on 6 February, presumably following a journey out into No Man's Land, Meyler was able to report extensively on the latest developments in the enemy trenches opposite his own sector, even down to the colour of the bands on their field capes.

He was gassed in an attack in June 1915, the month his well-earned M.C. was gazetted. The London Gazette for 22 July further records a mention in despatches. In October 1915 he transferred to the Border Regiment as a Captain but in March 1916 he joined the Royal Flying Corps. Appointed to the command of No. 8 Balloon Company of No. 2 Wing, Meyler is listed as having notched up nearly 70 hours of balloon observation, between his appointment and June 1917. He is further recorded as having been wounded in October 1917 and injured in a parachute descent in Belgium in September 1918.

By now Lieutenant-Colonel, he had been awarded the Croix de Guerre in August 1917 and mentioned in despatches in December 1918. The gazetting of his D.S.O. in January 1919 was followed by the award of the Belgian Order of Leopold in July. In 1920, now back with the Border Regiment, he was appointed a Legal Officer in Ireland, which post he occupied until 1923, the year in which these services were recognised by the award of the C.B.E.

He retired from the military in the following year, returning to the legal profession with his own practice in Churton Street, London S.W. In the meantime he had entered the political arena, and following defeats at Berhnal Green in 1918 and Blackpool in 1922, he was elected M.P. (Liberal) for the latter place in 1923, albeit for just one year. Sometime in the mid to late 1920's Meyler's legal practice ran into financial difficulties, a court order of April 1929 permitting the removal of his office furniture and other assets. In a report issued in The Times at the time of a subsequent Coroner's inquest, a Sheriffs Officer reported having met the colonel in his office to arrange the removal of any suitable assets. He denied the war hero showed any signs of strain and set about his work, only to be interrupted by a loud report. The Colonel's secretary, who stated that she had heard 'raised voices' during the official's interview (contrary to his own account), further confirmed the Colonel appeared 'very white and agitated'. He had asked her to go downstairs since he had to use her room. It was at this moment, having locked the door, that the Colonel shot himself. Another witness confirmed that the Colonel looked, 'white, distressed and upset' shortly before taking his own life. That morning he had written a letter to the City Stockbrokers who had arranged the court order. 'This caused by an abuse of legal process. A modern Shylock wants his pound of flesh as the enclosed copy letter will show.' A tragic end indeed for such a gallant officer. He was 54 years old, twice married and left a son and a daughter.

He also left a message for future Stockbrokers and Court Officials but it seems his good advice, and bold sacrifice, have made little impression.