Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A group of seven miniature dress medals representative of those worn by Corporal of Horse E. S. Tomney, 2nd Life Guards, later Yeoman of the Guard

Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 1 clasp, Tel-El-Kebir; Coronation 1902, silver; Coronation 1911; Army L.S. & G.C., V.R., 3rd issue, small letter reverse; Army Meritorious Service Medal, G.V.R., 1st issue; Imperial Yeomanry L.S. & G.C., E.VII.R.; Khedive’s Star, dated 1882, mounted for display, the LS&GC heavily polished and worn, this fair to fin, pitting to the Egypt Medal, this fine; the reset nearly extremely fine (7) £100-£140

Imperial Yeomanry L.S. & G.C. notified per Army Orders of May 1906.

M.S.M. notified per Army Order 93 of 1922, without Annuity.

Edward Stephen Tomney was born in 1849 at Spike Island, Cork, and enlisted as a Boy, aged 14, into the 14th The King’s Hussars on 15 January 1863. He was appointed Trumpeter in December 1868 and transferred to the 2nd Life Guards in 1875. He served with the 2nd Life Guards, as Corporal of Horse, in the Egyptian campaign of 1882, including the infamous ‘moonlight charge’ of the Household cavalry at Kassassin and at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, where he had his horse shot from under him, and at the capture of Cairo. In 1883 he transferred to the Permanent Staff of the Royal 1st Devon Yeomanry and was appointed Trumpet-Major of that unit upon his discharge from the Life Guards in September 1895. Tomney was appointed to Her Majesty’s Yeomen of the Guard on 5 January 1899, and received his M.S.M. whilst still holding that appointment in 1922.

Note: The recipient’s full-sized awards (the 1902 Coronation Medal a bronze award, not silver) were sold in these rooms in September 2008, as part of the John Tamplin Collection.