Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A fine Great War O.B.E., M.C. group of seven awarded to Colonel H. L. Howell, Royal Army Medical Corps, who served with distinction on the Western Front and in Mesopotamia during the Great War, being twice Mentioned in Despatches; he saw further service during the Second War in Command of the Royal Victoria Military Hospital, Netley

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) Officer’s 1st type, breast badge, silver-gilt, hallmarks for London 1919; Military Cross, G.V.R., the reverse privately engraved ‘Neuve Chapelle 10th. March 1915. Captain H. L. Howell, R.A.M.C. 12th. July 1915.’; 1914 Star, with copy clasp (Capt: H. L. Howell. R.A.M.C.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Major H. L. Howell.); Jubilee 1935, unnamed as issued; Coronation 1937, unnamed as issued, court mounted by Spink & Son, London, as worn, traces of lacquer, good very fine and better (7) £1,400-£1,800

O.B.E. London Gazette 3 March 1919:
‘For Services in Mesopotamia.'

M.C. London Gazette 23 June 1915.

Hector Lionel 'Bill' Howell was born at Plymouth, Devon, on 12 February 1882, the son of Major Reuben Howell, R.A.M.C., of Northfleet, Kent. He followed in his father's footsteps and is recorded in W.R.M. Drew's Commissioned Officers in the Medical Services of the British Army, 1660-1960, as qualifying M.R.C.S. and L.R.C.P. (Lond) in 1905. Awarded a Diploma of Membership to the Royal College of Surgeons whilst employed at Charing Cross Hospital, Howell was subsequently appointed to a Commission in the Royal Army Medical Corps on 30 June 1906. He served in Woolwich and at the Military Hospital in Shorncliffe, before going out to India to serve with the Southern Army at Kirkee and Poona from 1908 to 1914. There he received his Captaincy in January 1910.

The outbreak of the Great War saw Howell return to England attached to the 1st Battalion, The Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment (The Sherwood Foresters). He travelled to France as their medical officer on 4 November 1914, his gallantry at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle being rewarded with a Mention in Despatches on 22 June 1915, and a Military Cross the following day. Returned to England until September 1916, he was then appointed Deputy Assistant Director of Medical Services to 13th Division in the Mesopotamian Campaign. Howell's valuable contribution was recognised once again by his superiors, and he was created an Officer in the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire and once again Mentioned in Despatches on 30 April 1919.

Remaining in the Service, Howell returned to India for a second tour of duty from 1921 to 1923, later followed by his appointment as Senior Medical Officer and Officer Commanding the Officers' Hospital in Abbassia, Egypt, from 1926 to 1930. Further postings followed at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley, and as Officer Commanding the British Military Hospital at Secunderabad, before Howell was selected on 1 October 1937, as Honorary Surgeon to the Viceroy of India, the Marquess of Linlithgow.

Taking retirement in June 1938, Howell was immediately recalled back to Netley upon the outbreak of the Second World War. He served a further three years until ill health finally put an end to two generations of medical service, commencing with the appointment of his father as a Lieutenant of Orderlies, A.H.C., on 9 June 1877, and ending with Howell's retirement as Colonel and Officer Commanding the Royal Victoria Military Hospital, Netley, in 1941. A good-natured and kind-hearted man, fond of golf, cricket, and shooting, Howell died at Roque Brune, Cap Martin, France, on 28 January 1948.

Sold with extensive copied research.