Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Lieutenant-Colonel T. A. Kemble, Madras Pioneers, late East Lancashire Regiment, who served as Commandant of the Port of Enzeli on the Caspian Sea during the Russian Civil War

British War and Victory Medals (Capt. T. A. Kemble); General Service Medal 1918-62, 1 clasp, N.W. Persia (Capt. T. A. Kemble); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Malabar 1921-22 (Capt. T. A. Kemble 64 Pnrs.); Persia, Empire, Order of the Lion and Sun, Third Class neck badge, silver and enamel, unmarked, with neck riband, very fine (5) £400-£500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Peter Duckers.

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Thomas Aubrey Kemble was born in 1885 at Bathampton, Somerset, the son of an Indian Civil Servant, and was commissioned into the East Lancashire Regiment in 1906. He transferred to the Indian Army in 1908 and was posted to the 81st Pioneers. He served with the 81st in operations on the Mohmand Blockade Line on the North West Frontier of India in 1916 before being posted to Mesopotamia, attached to the 64th Pioneers, serving there from November 1917 to October 1918 as Company Commander and Acting Major.

Kemble then served in the operations in Persia, around the Caspian Sea, 1919-20, during the Russian Civil War, and was Commandant of the Port of Enzeli (the advanced HQ of NoperForce), January to September 1919, holding the rank of Temporary Major. He was appointed Commander (Third Class) of the Persian Order of the Lion and Sun for this service. Only 11 officer recipients of the Order have been traced for 1914-20, one of the First Class, one of the Second Class and nine of the 3rd Class. All were gazetted on January 16th 1920 as ‘Decorations conferred by His Majesty the Shah of Persia’. He continued to serve in North West Persia between February 1920 and June 1921, and was promoted to substantive Major in August 1921.

Kemble went on to serve in the Mopillah Rebellion in Malabar, with a small detachment of the 64th, based at Tirur where he was promoted Major, commanding the Railhead and Base. After service with the 64th Pioneers in Burma in the inter-War years, Kemble was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in December 1931, and retired in August 1934. He died in in 1949 and is buried in St. Peter and Paul churchyard, Churchanston, Somerset.

Sold with copied research.