The David Laban Collection of Territorial Force War Medal Groups

A post-War ‘Civil Division’ M.B.E. group of eight awarded to Company Quartermaster Sergeant N. A. V. Romer, 7th (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment, later Higher Clerical Officer, Board of Customs and Excise

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 2nd type breast badge, silver, with Royal Mint case of issue; British War and Victory Medals (354782 Pte. N. A. V. Romer. 7-Lond. R.); Territorial Force War Medal 1914-19 (354782 Pte. N. A. V. Romer. 7-Lond. R.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Territorial Force Efficiency Medal, G.V.R. (6561043 Pte. N. A. V. Romer. 5-Lond. R.); Efficiency Medal, G.V.R., Territorial, with three Additional Award Bars (561043 Sjt. N. A. V. Romer. 5-C. of Lond. R.), mounted as worn and housed in a Royal British Legion leatherette pouch, contact marks, the Great War medals polished, nearly very fine and better (8) £600-£800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The David Laban Collection of Territorial Force War Medal Groups.

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M.B.E. London Gazette 12 June 1958: Norman Albert Victor Romer, Esq., Higher Clerical Officer, Board of Customs and Excise.

Norman Albert Victor Romer was born on 22 June 1897 and enlisted into the Inns of Court O.T.C. in 1913, being mobilised for war service in the 7th Battalion, London Regiment in August 1914. He served during the Great War on the Western Front from October 1917, and was demobilised and discharged on 1 August 1919. He re-enlisted into the Rifle Brigade (Territorial Force) on 6 May 1920, and was awarded his T.F.E.M. per Army Order 65 of February 1921. Remaining in the Territorials, he was appointed Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant on 22 February 1939, and re-enlisted for active service on 25 August 1939. In 1944 he was serving as Colour Sergeant Instructor at the Rifle Depot, (No. 15 P.T.C.) Winchester, and was released from service on 8 July 1945. His Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Poole, of No. 15 P.T.C., described his conduct as ‘Exemplary’, and stated that he was ‘[a] very hardworking and conscientious man, who has done first class work in the unit. The best type of N.C.O. and recommended for a position of trust.’

Romer was awarded the Efficiency Medal, and received the first clasp per Army Order 84 of 31 May 1940.; the second clasp per Army Order 229 of 31 December 1942, and the third clasp, per Army Order 26 of 28 February 1947. Appointed to a clerical grade in the Civil Service with H.M. Customs and Excise in 1926, he was awarded the M.B.E. in the 1958 Birthday Honours’ List, being invested with his insignia at Buckingham Palace on 25 November 1958. He died in Essex on 28 November 1976.

Sold with several postcard photographs in uniform as a Bugler; the recipient’s original Soldiers Service and Pay Book (Brown Book); Soldiers Release Book (1945); certificate of appointment as a Special Constable in May 1920; 10 Downing Street letter dated 8 May 1958, advising that he had been recommended to be appointed M.B.E.; two original newspaper pages containing confirmation of the award of the M.B.E.; two family group photographs with the recipient in uniform; and original correspondence from the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood regarding the award of the M.B.E., and the Investiture at Buckingham Palace.