Orders, Decorations and Medals

A Great War D.S.O. and ‘Waziristan’ O.B.E. group of eight awarded to Lieutenant Colonel F. W. Richey, Royal Garrison Artillery and Wing Commander, Royal Flying Corps

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., lacking top bar and with minor enamel damage to reverse wreath; The Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) 1st type; 1914-15 Star (Capt., R.G.A.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. (Lt. Col.); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Waziristan 1921-24, with M.I.D. oak leaf emblem (Lt. Col., R.A.); Russia, Order of St Anne, 3rd class breast badge with swords, gold and enamels, the last with minor chip to reverse centre, otherwise good very fine and better (8)

D.S.O. London Gazette 3 June 1919. ‘For distinguished service in connection with military operations in France & Flanders.’

O.B.E. (Military) London Gazette 31 May 1924. ‘For valuable service rendered in the field in connection with military operations in Waziristan, January 1922-April 1923.’

M.I.D. London Gazette 26 April 1916 (R.F.C., France), 30 May 1918 (Italy), 7 July 1919 (France), and 27 February 1924 (Waziristan).

Order of St Anne London Gazette 12 September 1916.

Frederick William Richey was born in 1875 and educated at Harrow and R.M.C. Woolwich. He entered the Royal Artillery in June 1895 and went to India in the following December, where he served with 22 Co., Royal Garrison Artillery at Rangoon. He returned to England in August 1901, and from 1904 to 1907, served with 3 Co. Royal Garrison Artillery in Bermuda. He returned to India in March 1908 and at the outbreak of the Great War, he went to East Africa as Captain with the 27th Indian Mountain Battery, as part of the Indian Expeditionary Force “C”, and served there until March 1915 when he returned to England. In June 1915 he began instruction at the Military Wing, Central Flying School, Upavon, Salisbury Plain, and until January 1917, he served with the Royal Flying Corps. From August 1915 until June 1916 he was commanding officer of No. 21 Squadron R.F.C., and during the Somme operations in July 1916, he was officer commanding 11th (Army) Wing, 2nd Brigade (No’s 20 and 29 Squadrons) at Nieppe. He returned to the Royal Artillery in January 1917 and from April 1917 until the end of the war, he commanded the 72nd Army Brigade, R.F.A., in France and Italy. In 1920 and 1921 he served with the Royal Garrison Artillery in Mesopotamia and Palestine, and from 1922 to 1924 he was commanding the 21st Indian Pack Brigade during the Waziristan campaign on the North West Frontier. Richey retired in February 1926 and died in Devon on 4 March 1934.