Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Queen's South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Cape Colony, Defence of Ladysmith, Orange Free State, Johannesburg (Major S. C. N. Grant. R.E.) extremely fine £300-360

Samuel Charles Norton Grant was born on 7 August 1854, and entered the Royal Engineers in February 1874. Captain, February 1885; Major, February 1894; Lieutenant-Colonel, April 1901; Brevet Colonel, 1904; Substantive Colonel, July 1908.

Specially employed by the Colonial Office in Cyprus, 1878-79 and 1880-96; and then by the Foreign Office for various assignments in Africa and South America up to 1899, including Anglo-Portuguese Boundary Commission, East Africa, 19 March 1892 to 8 January 1893; Sierra Leone, 1895-96; South Africa, 1896; Guiana-Venezuela Boundary Arbitration Commission, 1898-99 (awarded C.M.G. 1900).

Served in the South African War, 1899-1900, in the Map Producing Section, R.E. Took part in the operations in Natal, including actions of Rietfontein and Lombard’s Kop, present at the Defence of Ladysmith, including action on 6 January 1900, when he was severely wounded, and served throughout the Orange Free State campaign (three times mentioned in despatches; medal with four clasps).

Appointed Director General of the Ordnance Survey, 17 July 1908, and retired from the Army in 1911. Appointed C.B. (Civil) in 1911; and C.B.E. (Military) in 1918, for services in connection with the War. Colonel Grant died at Freshwater, Isle of Wight, on 15 March 1939, aged 84. Sold with extensive copied research including several maps drawn by Grant while with the Royal Engineers.