Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War O.B.E. group of four to Lieutenant-Colonel B. J. Wolfe Barry, Royal Air Force, late Royal Garrison Artillery

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) Officer’s 1st type breast badge, hallmarks for London 1919; 1914-15 Star (2 Lieut., R.G.A.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut.) nearly extremely fine (4) £160-200

O.B.E. London Gazette 15 April 1919.

Bernard John Wolfe Barry was born on 20 January 1877, the eldest son of Sir John Wolfe Barry, K.C.B., who assumed the name Wolfe-Barry by Royal Licence in 1898. His father was the noted architect of Tower Bridge, London. Bernard John was educated at Winchester College and at New College, Oxford where he gained a B.A. in History in 1898. Called to the Bar and a barrister of the Inner Temple in 1901, he later became a partner of Linley & Co. in the City of London. With the onset of war, he was gazetted a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery in January 1915 and was serving with the B.E.F. in June the same year, being wounded in December. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1916 and attained the rank of Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918. Demobilised in 1919, he was awarded the O.B.E. for his war services.