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

An early aviator’s C.B., Great War C.B.E., M.C. group of seven awarded to Air Commodore N. J. Gill, Royal Air Force, late Royal Artillery and Royal Flying Corps: having learned to fly at Brooklands in 1911-12 (Royal Aero Club Certificate No. 174) and the C.F.S. Upavon (R.F.C. Flying Certificate No. 90), he immediately went into print with his “Flyer’s Guide, An Elementary Handbook for Aviators” - and was awarded the M.C. for services as a Brigade Major, R.F.C. in 1915-16

The Most Honourable Order of The Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels, in its Garrard & Co., London case of issue; The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Military) 1st type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels, in its Garrard & Co., London case of issue; Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (Capt., R.G.A.); British War and Victory Medals (Major, R.F.C.); Jubilee 1935, mounted as worn where applicable, generally good very fine or better (7) £3500-4000

C.B. London Gazette 1 January 1936.
C.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1919.
M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1917. The original recommendation states:
‘He has done exceptionally good work from April to October 1916, as a Brigade Major. His energy and great ability have been most valuable. He has previously done very good work as Wing Adjutant during the campaign.’

Napier John Gill, who was born in London in April 1890 and was educated at Rugby and the R.M.A. Woolwich, was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery in January 1911. In the same year he learned to fly at Brooklands in a Deperdussin monoplane and was issued with his Royal Aero Club Certificate (No. 174) in January 1912, in addition to going into print with his Flyer’s Guide, as a consequence of which he was seconded to the Military Wing, Royal Flying Corps and passed his R.F.C. pilot’s course at the newly established C.F.S. Upavon in August 1913 (R.F.C. Flying Certificate No. 90). A few days later he reported to No. 5 Squadron at Farnborough, where he would become a Flight Commander in the rank of Captain in the following year.

Soon after the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, however, Gill was appointed Wing Adjutant, R.F.C., and in July 1915 he was embarked for France. It was there, that September, that he became Brigade Major to Brigadier-General J. F. A. Higgins, C.O. of 3rd Brigade, R.F.C., in which capacity he was to win his M.C. He was subsequently advanced to Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel, appointed Assistant Adjutant-General, R.F.C. and awarded the C.B.E.

After the War, Gill briefly commanded No. 210 Squadron at R.A.F. Gosport prior to assuming command of that establishment, as a Wing Commander, in 1921. In the following year he became Commandant of the experimental station at Martlesham Heath, an appointment in which he excelled and that brought him into contact with a host of famous pilots and aircraft “barons”, the latter including Geoffrey de Havilland, Frederick Handley Page and Tommy Sopwith. Indeed relevant histories quite simply credit Gill with putting Martlesham “on the map”:

‘Command passed in March 1922 to Wing Commander Napier John Gill, who did as much as anybody to establish the character and reputation of his station. Gill had an austere presence and an acid tongue combined with a wealth of humanity, a sense of humour and clarity of vision. When the hangar burnt down in October 1922, one of the first on the scene in the small hours of the morning was Gill, immaculately turned out, including cane. On another occasion, an officer came to Gill’s office to ask for 24 hours leave as his wife had just given birth to twins: “Poor man” said Gill, “You’d better have a fornight!” Above all the respect commanded by Gill stemmed from his principle of making good the name of Martlesham the highest priority, by his support of subordinates and from his insistence on the highest standards at work. By 1924 [the year of his departure], the “Trade” (the aircraft industry whose products were under test) had come to accept without demur the opinions and objective results of Establishment testing; yet all business was conducted in the friendliest atmosphere.’

In the mid-1920s Gill served as a technical Officer in Iraq and on his return to the U.K., and having been advanced to Group Captain, he was closely involved in the preparations for, and ultimate winning of, the 1931 Schneider Trophy. A succession of senior appointments followed, among them A.O.C., No. 10 Group, S.A.S.O., H.Q. Coastal Area and A.O.A., H.Q. Fighter Command in 1936, the latter year also witnessing his appointment to C.B. In January 1937, however, at his own request, Gill was placed on the Retired List in the rank of Air Commodore, and joined the Boulton Paul Aircraft Company as General Manager. Six years later, he became General Manager of the Marine Mountings Co. Limited. He died at his residence in Fort Augustus in October 1948, aged 58 years.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s commission warrant for the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Garrison Artillery, dated 6 January 1911; ‘Federation Aeronautique Internationale’ Aviator’s Certificate (British Empire - Royal Aero Club), dated 16 January 1912 (No. 174), with portrait photograph; his R.F.C. Flying Certificate, dated at the C.F.S. Upavon on 15 August 1913 (No. 90); his War Office letters of appointment for the Military Wing, Royal Flying Corps at Farnborough, dated 18 and 21 August 1913; a second impression (1917) of Gill’s Flyer’s Guide, An Elementary Handbook for Aviators, with corrections and annotation in his own hand, together with a copy of his The Aerial Arm, Its Functions and Development (London, 1919); C.B.E. warrant, dated 1 January 1919; commission warrant for Wing Commander, R.A.F., dated 2 August 1919; a fine series of family and “career letters” from fellow officers, quite a few of the latter of senior rank and renown (approximately 35), dating from 1924-36; Royal Aeronautical Society certificate for election to Associate Fellow, dated 8 December 1931; Buckingham Palace Jubilee 1935 Medal certificate and related Air Ministry forwarding letter; C.B. warrant, dated 5 February 1936, with accompanying Central Chancery forwarding letters for related warrant and statutes; and assorted newspaper cuttings.