Medals to The Rifle Brigade and Affiliated Regiments from the collection formed by Michael Haines

A fine C.B., C.M.G., Defence of Ladysmith group of eight awarded to Major-General G. H. Thesiger, The Rifle Brigade, killed at the Battle of Loos in September 1915 whilst commanding the 9th (Scottish) Division

The Most Honourable Order of The Bath, C.B. (Military) breast badge, silver-gilt and enamels, complete with ribbon buckle, ‘triple crown’ device lacking from obverse centre; The Order of St. Michael and St. George, C.M.G., breast badge, silver-gilt and enamels, complete with ribbon buckle; Queen’s Sudan 1896-98 (Capt. & Adjt., 2/Rif. Bde.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Defence of Ladysmith, Laing’s Nek, Belfast (Bt. Maj., Rifle Bde.); 1914-15 Star (Bt. Col., C.B., C.M.G. Rif. Brig.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaf (Maj. Gen.); Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, 1 clasp, Khartoum, unnamed as issued, unless otherwise described, extremely fine (8) £2500-3000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals to The Rifle Brigade and Affiliated Regiments from the collection formed by Michael Haines.

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George Handcock Thesiger was born on 6 October 1868, elder son of Lieutenant-General Hon. C. W. Thesiger and a grandson of the first Lord Chelmsford. His uncle was General Lord Chelmsford who commanded the British troops in the Zulu War, and amongst his cousins was Wilfred Thesiger, later to become a noted explorer who won the D.S.O. with the S.A.S. during the Second World War.

After an education at Eton and R.M.C. Sandhurst, Thesiger was gazetted to the Rifle Brigade in March 1890 and joined the 2nd Battalion. He served in the Nile Expedition of 1898, being present at the battle of Khartoum (Despatches London Gazette 30 September 1898), and subsequently served in Crete. He went to the South African War with the 2nd Battalion in October 1899, and was present throughout the siege of Ladysmith. He took part in the famous night attack against the Boer Howitzer on Surprise Hill on 10 December 1900, later describing the action in his own words:

‘When we had gone about 1,000 yards we had to halt for an hour and a half on account of the brightness of the moon... We then advanced very slowly in column of sections until reaching the bottom of the hill when Gough’s company deployed into line... The men went up the hill magnificently, arriving at the top in excellent line. It wasn’t till we got within ten yards of the top that we were discovered. We then fixed swords and charged. The Boers ran down and we carried on about 70 yards beyond the gun and then lay down and fired volleys while the Sappers took the gun in hand. Unfortunately the first fuse went out and this caused a delay of a most precious ten minutes or so. Altogether we were at the top about half an hour. At last the gun blew up and the Colonel gave orders to retire. We realised we were in a pretty tight place as the Boers had worked round us... and were between us and our comrades at the bottom of the hill. The men behaved splendidly and we rolled down the hill somehow, and they pulled themselves together at the bottom and got into line. Each lot had to cut their way through independently and we managed to stick several of them. we lost pretty heavily, but I fancy there are very few Battalions who could have got out of it without disaster. It was a fine thing for the Battalion and has bucked up the men tremendously.’

On 6 January, 1900, he took part in the attack on Wagon Hill and was severely wounded. He served afterwards on the Staff and took part in the operations in the Transvaal, including the action at Belfast (Despatches London Gazette 8 February 1901 and Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel).

During 1901-02, Thesiger was at the Staff College, and from 1902-06 was Deputy assistant Adjutant General for Musketry at Salisbury Plain. He was Assistant Military Secretary to the G.O.C. in Ireland from 1908 to 1909, and from this post he went to Africa as Inspector-General of the King’s African Rifles. For these services he was created a Companion of St Michael and St George (London Gazette 3 June 1913) and in December of that year he was appointed to the command of the 4th Battalion Rifle Brigade in India. Following hot on the heels of his C.M.G., Thesiger was made a Companion of the Bath (London Gazette 1 January 1914).

Thesiger returned with the 4th Battalion to England in the autumn of 1914 and took it to France in December of that year. His command of the 4th Battalion in their counter-attack on St Eloi and the ‘Mound’ on 14-15 March 1915 met with the high approbation of his senior commanders and he was rewarded with the first vacant Brigade. The following extract is taken from Jackets of Green by Sir Arthur Bryant:

‘The 4th Battalion under Colonel Thesiger was sent in to recapture the ground lost, including the village in which every house was now defended by two or more machine guns. “The engagement,” wrote Captain Collins, “left a good deal to be desired from the regimental officer’s point of view. The retaking of The Rifle Brigade trench was a feasible proposition and was completed with success and some loss. The attack on the Mound would be more reasonably placed under the heading of the impossible. No information, no artillery support, no facility for covering fire, confusion and obstruction by other units - a night attack up a street swept by machine gun fire - it is remarkable that the goal was within an ace of being achieved. It was a tough proposition for those who had not years of discipline behind them. During the whole time the Battalion was in action Colonel Thesiger stood in the middle of the road, scorning to take cover... issued his orders and encouraged his men. He must have stood there an hour while bullets rattled on the ground like hail; this is no exageration - the miracle was that he was not hit. He was a man who inspired implicit confidence.” ’

Thesiger was appointed to command the 2nd Infantry Brigade in May 1915, and in August 1915, he was promoted to Major-General and given command of the 33rd Division, from which he was transferred, in September, to the 9th (Scottish) Division. The official History of the Great War records that during the battle of Loos:

‘Major-General Thesiger, commanding the 9th Division, having heard that the 73rd Infantry Brigade was unsteady, had gone forward, personally, to investigate the situation about Fosse 8, but on reaching the eastern face of the Hohenzollern, he with two of his staff officers were killed.’

Sir John French, in his Despatch No. 15, stated: ‘Soon after dawn on the 27th September it became apparent that the Brigade holding Fosse 8 was unable to maintain its position, and eventually it was slowly forced back until at length our front at this point coincided with the Eastern portion of the Hohenzollern Redoubt. I regret to say that during this operation Major-General G. H. Thesiger, C.B., C.M.G., A.D.C., commanding the 9th Division, was killed while gallantly endeavouring to secure the ground which had been won.’

Major-General Thesiger has no known grave and is commemorated by name on Panel 129 of the Loos Memorial to the Missing, France. Thesiger was one of six Major-Generals, the highest ranking officers, to be killed in action during the Great War.