The David Laban Collection of Great War Awards

The historically important C.B.E. group of five awarded to Lieutenant J. E. M. Carvell, 16th (County of London) Battalion (Queen’s Westminster Rifles), London Regiment, who was twice wounded during the Great War - rather than take a discharge he took a posting as an Instructor to the Portuguese Army from 1917-18, and then as a Staff Captain, HQ London District, 1918-19.

A career diplomat, Carvell, when acting British Consul General in Munich in the 1930s, secured the freedom of some 300 Jews from Dachau, and in 2018 was posthumously recognised by the British Government as a ‘British Hero of the Holocaust’

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Civil) Commander’s 2nd type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, with full and miniature width neck ribands, in DS&S case of issue; 1914-15 Star (Lieut. J. E. M. Carvell. 16/Lond. R.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. J. E. M. Carvell); Coronation 1953, unnamed as issued, in card box of issue, the Great War trio lacquered and mounted court-style by Spink, London, the Coronation Medal loose, good very fine (5) £1,800-£2,200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The David Laban Collection of Great War Awards.

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C.B.E. (Civil) London Gazette 2 January 1950: ‘John Eric Maclean Carvell Esq., His Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Quito.’

John Eric MacLean Carvell was born on 12 August 1894 and was educated at Berkhamsted. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant on 9 September 1914 and was posted to the 16th (County of London) Battalion (Queen's Westminster Rifles), London Regiment as temporary Lieutenant on 30 November 1914. He served with them during the Great War on the Western Front from 23 January 1915, and was promoted Captain on 28 April 1917. Twice wounded (on the second occasion the bullet reputedly lodged between his heart and his lung), rather than take a discharge he took a posting as an Instructor to the Portuguese Army from 1917-18, and then as a Staff Captain, HQ London District, 1918-19. He transferred to the Territorial Force Reserve on 30 July 1919.

A career diplomat, Carvell had various postings, firstly as British Consul to the Republic of Haiti, at Port au Prince, in 1920, followed by postings to Finisterre, France; Munich, Bavaria; State of Rio Grande do Sul at Porto Alegre, Brazil; and again at Munich, Bavaria, in the late 1930’. He was appointed British Consul General at Algiers, in 1942; Arizona, in 1946; Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Quito, Equador, in 1948; and Sofia, Bulgaria in 1951. He retired from the Foreign Service in 1954, and died at Bungay, Suffolk on 29 April 1978.

As Consul General in Munich, Carvell used his position to issue certificates to 300 Jewish men imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp for ‘race defilement’ (marrying or having relationships with non-Jewish German women). These certificates enabled the men to leave the camp and travel to British Mandated Palestine in 1937. As a result of his and his colleagues’ efforts to aid the escape of Jews from Germany, a memorial plaque was unveiled at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. The plaque reads, 'To commemorate those British diplomats who by their personal endeavours helped to rescue victims of Nazi oppression’.

Carvell was posthumously awarded the title ‘British Hero of the Holocaust’ in 2018, along with his counterpart in Lithuania, Sir Thomas Preston. The title ‘British Hero of the Holocaust’ is a special award given by the British Government to people who helped or rescued Jews and others facing Nazi persecution before and during the Second World War. The award was created in 2009 following a campaign by the Holocaust Educational Trust to ensure that their actions were properly recognised; the first awards were given in 2010.