Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

India General Service 1936-39, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1936-37 (Major W. H. Knox. R.E.) minor edge nicks, otherwise extremely fine £140-£180

Provenance: Lee Bishop Collection, Spink, July 2009.

William Humphries Knox was born in November 1897, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel R. F. Knox, Royal Engineers, and was educated at Haileybury and Christ’s College, Cambridge. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 22 April 1915, and served during the Great War on the Western Front from 24 May 1916. Promoted Lieutenant on 1 July 1917, the following year was seconded to the Indian Army (with the rank of acting Captain) for service in Afghanistan and on the North West Frontier, as Officer Commanding 67 Company, Madras Sappers and Miners. Promoted Captain on 29 November 1922, he subsequently served in India for a second period with the Royal Engineers Headquarters from 1924 to 1929, before returning to the U.K. and taking up an appointment as Staff Captain, Department of the Quartermaster General, at the War Office. Promoted Major on 29 June 1932, he went out to India for a third time as Officer Commanding 11th Company, Madras Sappers and Miners and saw service during the Bengal Riots, 1933-35; and then with the Military Engineering Services on the North West Frontier, 1936-37. He was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel on 18 May 1939, and retired on 14 August 1940.