Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A post-War Knight Bachelor, Bailiff Grand Cross of the Order of St. John group of nine awarded to Colonel Sir Cennydd G. Traherne, K.G., Royal Artillery and Corps of Royal Military Police, who was Mentioned in Despatches for his services in North-West Europe, and was later Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan 1952-85

Knight Bachelor’s Badge, 2nd type breast badge, silver-gilt and enamel; The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Bailiff Grand Cross set of insignia, comprising sash badge, silver-gilt and enamel, with heraldic beasts in angles, and breast Star, silver-gilt and enamel, lacking heraldic beasts in angles, with full sash riband and large embroidered mantle Star; 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf; Coronation 1953, unnamed as issued; Jubilee 1977, unnamed as issued; Efficiency Decoration, G.VI.R., 2nd issue, Territorial, reverse officially dated 1949, the medals mounted court-style as worn, and all housed alongside a portrait of the recipient and the recipient’s riband bar in a glazed display frame, minor enamel damage to centre of St. John Star, generally very fine and better and a rare group of medals to a Knight of the Garter (11) £1,000-£1,400

Provenance: Bought privately from the recipient’s estate following his death. His Garter insignia was returned to the Central Chancery by his nephew Rhodri Traherne, Colonel of the Welsh Guards.

K.G. London Gazette 24 April 1970.

Knight Bachelor London Gazette 13 June 1964.

Order of St. John, Bailiff Grand Cross London Gazette 1 July 1991.

T.D. London Gazette 20 May 1949.

M.I.D. London Gazette 8 November 1945:
‘In recognition of gallant and distinguished service in North-West Europe.’

Sir Cennydd George Traherne was born in Cardiff on 14 December 1910, the son of Commander L. E. Traherne, R.N., and was educated at Wellington College and Brasenose College, Oxford. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 81st Field Regiment, Royal Artillery (Territorial Army) in March 1934, and was promoted Captain in 1938. He served during the Second World War with this unit, before transferring to the 102nd Provost Company, Corps of Military Police, in April 1943, and served with them post-D-Day in North-West Europe, being Mentioned in Despatches. Demobilised at the end of the War, he contested the Pontypridd seat in the 1945 General Election, but suffered the same fate as all Conservatives before and since in this seat, and instead went on to serve as Chairman of Cardiff rural district council.

Appointed a Justice of the Peace and a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Glamorgan in 1946, Traherne held various honorary appointments in the Territorial Army, being awarded his Efficiency Decoration in 1949, and was ultimately promoted to Colonel. He was Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan from 1952 to 1974 and, following the splitting of the historic county into three separate administrative units, continued as Lord Lieutenant or Mid, South, and West Glamorgan from 1974 to 1985. He was knighted for his public services in 1964, and was appointed a Knight of the Garter on St. George’s Day, 1970. Throughout his adult life he held numerous charitable posts, and was devoted to the Welsh people and their culture. He died at Coedarhydyglyn, his elegant Regency house on the outskirts of Cardiff, on 26 January 1995.

Sold with various photographs of the recipient; three letters regarding the presentation of the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement to British Airways Engine Overhaul Ltd., two from the recipient on Lord Lieutenant writing paper, and one from the local M.P., the Rt. Hon. James Callaghan, on House of Commons writing paper; and copied research.