Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare Boer War D.S.O. and Great War Second Award Bar group of six awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel T. E. P. Wickham, Royal Horse Artillery, who was wounded in both the Boer War and the Great War, was five times Mentioned in Despatches, and commanded the 14th Brigade Royal Horse Artillery on the Western Front

Distinguished Service Order, V.R., with Second Award Bar, silver-gilt and enamel, minor white enamel damage to lower obverse arm of cross and central medallion slightly loose, with integral top-riband bar; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 6 clasps, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, Driefontein, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Wittebergen (Lieut. T. E. P. Wickham, D.S.O., R.H.A.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Lieut. T. E. P. Wickham. D.S.O. R.H.A.); 1914 Star, with copy clasp (Capt. T. E. P. Wickham, D.S.O. R.F.A.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Lt. Col. T. E. P. Wickham) traces of lacquer, light contact marks, very fine and better (6) £3,600-£4,400

Provenance: Christie’s, April 1992.

D.S.O. London Gazette 27 September 1901:
‘In recognition of services during operations in South Africa.’

D.S.O. Second Award Bar London Gazette 1 January 1918.

Thomas Edmund Palmer Wickham was born in 1879, the eldest son of R. W. Wickham, Esq., of Ebley Court, Stroud, and was educated at Marlborough College. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Royal Horse Artillery on 23 June 1898, and served with the Artillery in South Africa during the Boer War from 1900-1902, being present at the Relief of Kimberley and operations in the Orange Free State, February to May 1900, including the operations at Paardeberg (18-26 February), and the actions at Poplar Grove, Driefontein (where he was wounded on 10 March 1900), Vet River, and Zand River. Promoted Lieutenant on 16 February 1901, for his services in South Africa he was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 10 September 1901), and created a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order: the Insignia, Warrant and Statutes for the D.S.O. were sent to the Commander-in-Chief in India, and presented to the recipient at Meerut by the General Officer Commanding, Bengal, on 1 March 1903.

Advanced Major on 30 October 1914, Wickham served during the Great War on the Western Front from 10 November to 17 December 1914; from 17 January to 12 March 1915 (having been wounded on 11 March of that year); and again from 10 April 1916 to 14 November 1917. He commanded 14th Brigade Royal Horse Artillery on the Western Front from 1 December 1916, before proceeding to the Italian Front, serving there from 15 November 1917 to 23 March 1918. Promoted Lieutenant-Colonel on 2 October 1918, for his services during the Great War he was four times Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazettes 23 June 1915, 4 January 1917, 18 May 1917, and 14 December 1917), and was awarded a Second Award Bar to his Distinguished Service Order: he was invested with his Bar by H.M. the King at Buckingham Palace on 29 June 1918. Wickham relinquished his commission on 7 November 1925, and died suddenly at home in Sussex in July 1927.

Sold with copied research.

Note: During the Great War only 35 officers (including four in the Royal Artillery) received a Second Award Bar to a pre-War D.S.O.