Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The post-War C.B., 1953 Coronation C.V.O. pair awarded to Eric Bedford, Esq., who served as Chief Architect to the Ministry of Works from 1950-70, and designed the Post Office Tower which was, on its completion, the tallest building in Britain

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, C.B. (Civil) Companion’s neck badge, silver-gilt, with neck riband, in Collingwood, London, case of issue; The Royal Victorian Order, C.V.O., Commander’s neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, the reverse officially numbered ‘1165’, with neck riband, in Collingwood, London, case of issue; together with the related miniature awards mounted as worn, nearly extremely fine (4) £600-£800

C.B. London Gazette 13 June 1959.

C.V.O. London Gazette 1 June 1953:
‘On the occasion of Her Majesty’s Coronation.’

Eric Bedford was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, on 23 August 1909 and was educated at Thornton Grammar School, before becoming an apprentice with a firm of architects in Leicester. In 1934 he won a Royal Institute of British Architects competition for the design of a railway terminal, and two years later joined the Ministry of Works, becoming its youngest Chief Architect in 1950, at the age of 41.

In 1953 Bedford was given responsibility for the design of the backdrop to the 1953 Coronation. The project, for which he was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, included four steel arches, surmounted by gold and silver lions, white unicorns, and a coronet, was popular and well received. He was also responsible for the Post Office Tower (now known as the BT Tower) in central London, which upon its completion in 1964 was, at 177 metres, the tallest building in Britain. Described by Pevsner as ‘a notable 1960s landmark’, some of his other government buildings were less aesthetically pleasing, with his (now-demolished) Marsham Street development in Westminster being described by the same authority as ‘ruthlessly logical, but a spectacular failure, the very image of faceless bureaucracy’.

Bedford was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1959 Birthday Honours’ List, and retired in 1970. He died in Worcester on 28 July 2001.

Sold together with the Bestowal Documents for both awards, both mounted in matching glazed display frames; and copied research.