Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part I)

A rare Old Contemptibles ‘1914’ M.C. group of four awarded to Lieutenant Colonel J. S. Harper, Manchester Regiment, subsequently Brigade Machine Gun Officer, 93rd Brigade, who gained the first ever award of the Military Cross to the Manchesters

Military Cross, G.V.R.; 1914 Star, with clasp (Lieut., Manch. R.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaf (Lt. Col.) good very fine (4) £1000-1200

M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1915 (this being the very first gazette in which the award of M.C’s. was announced, Harper’s being the only one gazetted to the Manchesters).

Despatches twice London Gazette 19 October 1914 and 4 January 1917.

James Stuart Harper was educated at Edinburgh Academy where he received the Balliol Prize for French. He was commissioned into the 2nd Battalion, Manchester Regiment on 16 August 1905, and was promoted to Captain on 27 April 1915. He was present at Mons, Bavay, Le Cateau, Marne, the crossing of the Aisne, Richebourg, and Lorgies, where he was wounded and transferred to England on 26 October 1914. He rejoined the 2nd Battalion at Ypres on 27 June 1915, before again being invalided to England on again 1 August 1915, subsequently serving as a Machine Gun Officer with 93 Brigade. Sold with photocopied research, including pictures of recipient.