Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Major the Marquess of Winchester, Rife Brigade, and the Premier Marquess of England, and the oldest ever member of the House of Lords

1914-15 Star (Major Marquis of Winchester. Rif: Brig:); British War and Victory Medals (Major Marquis of Winchester); Coronation 1911, traces of lacquer, nearly extremely fine (4) £300-400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to Members of the Nobility and The Royal Household.

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Henry William Montague Paulet, 16th Marquess of Winchester, was born on 30 October 1862, the younger son of the 14th Marquess of Winchester, the Premier Marquess of England, and his wife Mary, daughter of the 6th Baron Rokeby, and was educated at Burney’s Royal Naval Academy, Gosport, Hampshire. He travelled widely, hunting big game in the Rocky Mountains, and visiting India, Ceylon, China, and Japan. In 1891 he went to South Africa, where he became a friend and hunting companion of Cecil Rhodes. Commission Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, he served as a Captain with the Hampshire Carabiniers, before transferring to the Rifle Brigade. He served during the Great War with the British Expeditionary Force in France from 1915 until 1917.

Lord Winchester succeed to the Marquessate as 16th Marquess of Winchester, and Premier Marquess of England, as well as the subsidiary titles of Earl of Wiltshire and Baron St. John, upon the death of his brother on 11 December 1899, who was killed in action at Magersfontein in the Boer War. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire and Custos Rotulorum from 1904-19, Chairman of Hampshire County Council from 1904-09, and President of the Territorial Association from 1909-17. He married three times, his third wife being the daughter of the High Priest in India of the Parsees, but had no surviving children. Lord Winchester died in Monte Carlo on 28 June 1962, four months before his 100th birthday, and the oldest ever member of the House of Lords. He was succeeded to the Marquessate by his first cousin twice removed; the title is extant.