Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The group of eleven miniature dress medals attributed to Colonel St. G. L. Steele, C.B., 2nd Bengal Lancers, Indian Army

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s breast badge, gold and enamels, complete with gold ribbon buckle; Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, 1 clasp, Tel-El-Kebir; India General Service 1854-95, 2 clasps, N.E. Frontier 1891, Waziristan 1894-5; Queen’s Sudan 1896-98; India General Service 1895-1902, 2 clasps, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Tirah 1897-98; China 1900, no clasp; British War and Victory Medals; Delhi Durbar 1911, silver; Khedive’s Star, undated; Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, no clasp, display mounted, good very fine (11) £200-£300

C.B. London Gazette 19 June 1911: ‘On the occasion of His Majesty’s Coronation’.

St. George Loftus Steele was born on 31 March 1859, son of Major-General A. Loftus Steele. Educated at Marlborough College, he entered the Indian Army in 1878. Commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 2nd Bengal Cavalry, he served in Egypt at the action of Kassassin and at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir (Medal and Clasp, Bronze Star). Appointed Captain in the Indian Staff Corps in 1889, he served on the North East Frontier of India in the Manipur Expedition together with Lieutenant C. J. W. Grant, I.S.C., who gained the only V.C. during this campaign. Steele was mentioned in despatches (Medal and Clasp). Still on the frontier following the attack by the Waziris on the Afghan Boundary Delimitation Party, under the command of Lieutenant-General William Lockhart, Steele was again in action gaining the Clasp to his medal. Having been previously promoted to Captain in his regiment, the 2nd Bengal Lancers, he found himself once again in the sands of the Sudan on the Dongola Expedition in 1896 with the Commissariat Transport Department of the Egyptian Army (Queen’s Sudan Medal and Egyptian Sudan Medal). He next served on the Tirah Expedition of 1897-98, once again under Lieutenant-General William Lockhart, and was once again mentioned in despatches for his services as a Section Commandant on the Line of Communication (Medal and two Clasps). As a Major he next served with the British Contingent of the China Expeditionary Force 1900-01, being mentioned in despatches for good service in duties connected with the communications (Medal). Promoted to Colonel on 1 June 1907, he was subsequently Assistant Quartermaster General to the 1st Peshawur Division and was present during the King’s visit to Delhi for the Durbar in 1911 (Durbar Medal), also receiving the C.B. in the King’s Birthday Honours of that year. In 1914 he held the position of Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General on the Staff of the Indian Army. He was sent on special duty to Canada and U.S.A., 1917-18, and, being fluent in Russian, was sent to Vladivostok in 1918 as Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General. In the following year he was appointed Commissioner for Holland (Russian P.O.W. Camps) with the British Red Cross Society. Colonel Steele retired from the army in 1919 after a military career spanning more than 40 years, much of which was in the Field. He latterly resided at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and died there on 13 July 1936, aged 78.

For the recipient’s full size awards, see Lot 78.