Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Commander H. W. Colomb, Royal Navy, who was twice wounded and promoted for services during the China campaign

Jubilee 1897, silver; China 1900, 1 clasp, Relief of Pekin (Lieut. H. W. Colomb, R.N., H.M.S. Endymion); Germany, Prussia, Order of the Crown, Third Class breast badge, with swords, gold and enamel, maker’s mark ‘W’ to base, minor dinting and blue enamel damage to reverse central medallion, and minor edge bruise to last, otherwise good very fine (3) £1,800-£2,200

Provenance: Buckland Dix & Wood, April 1994; Dix Noonan Webb, December 2011.

Horatio Walcott Colomb was born on 18 September 1871, the son of Admiral P. H. Colomb. He entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet on 15 July 1884, and became Midshipman in May 1887, gaining two month’s seniority on passing out from Britannia. He was promoted Sub-Lieutenant in May 1891 and Lieutenant in November 1892, having obtained five first-class certificates. He was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal in 1897, being present at the Fleet Review as a Lieutenant in command of the Torpedo Boat Destroyer H.M.S. Spitfire.

Colomb landed in China in June 1900 as part of the Naval Brigade from H.M.S. Endymion. He was wounded in action at Pietsang, on 21 June 1900, by a bullet wound to his face, and again at Tientsin, on 27 June 1900, by bullet wounds to his right leg and hip. Having been left in charge at Lofa Station Fort, he successfully defended it against a number of attacks and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy, particularly on 14 July when they left behind over 100 of their dead. He was mentioned in Admiral Seymour’s despatch of 27 June 1900 (London Gazette 5 October 1900) and specially promoted to Commander on 9 November 1900, for his services in China when aged only 29 years.

Colomb was selected by the German Emperor to receive the Prussian Order of the Royal Crown with swords, 3rd Class, in recognition of his gallantry whilst serving with the allied forces in China. Only 7 awards of this order were given to the Royal Navy for the China Campaign. Interestingly Colomb’s record of service records this as ‘Order of Red Eagle 4 Cl. with swords’ but subsequent Navy Lists give ‘Royal Crown, 3rd Class, with swords’.

He was placed on the retired list on 8 April 1907, medically unfit, suffering from disease of the liver and instability of the nervous system. Commander Colomb died on 11 March 1922, aged 51.

Sold with a large hand illuminated presentation scroll, 500mm x 350mm, signed W. C. Clarke, Southampton, from the residents of Botley, West Yorkshire, welcoming home Commander Horace Walcott Colomb, R.N., “after taking part in the recent brilliant Expedition to Peking under Admiral Seymour”. The text goes on to comment on his wounds, his subsequent promotion, and his father, and is ‘signed on behalf of the Inhabitants of Botley assembled in Public Meeting, John Morley Lee, Chairman, February 15, 1901’, mounted in an attractive card mount; and a large quantity of copied research,