The Julian Johnson Collection

An extremely rare Quetta earthquake R.R.C. pair awarded to Staff Nurse G. Lincoln, Indian Military Nursing Service

Royal Red Cross, 1st Class (R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver-gilt, gold and enamel, on original Lady’s bow for wearing; India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1930-31 (S.-Nurse G. Lincoin, I.M.N.S.), note surname spelling, extremely fine (2) £1200-1500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Julian Johnson Collection.

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One of just five appointments to the R.R.C. in respect of the Quetta earthquake.

R.R.C. London Gazette 19 November 1935:

‘For services rendered in connection with the recent earthquake in Baluchistan.’

Georgina Lincoln was actually serving as a Staff Nurse at the British Military Hospital in Quetta at the time of the disaster. Situated in the north-west of the Indian Sub-continent, Quetta was first established as a base by Sir Robert Sandeman in the late 1870s, and by the 1930s was an important military centre for conducting operations on the North West Frontier. However, on 31 May 1935, the city was completely destroyed by one of the world’s worst ever earthquakes, a disaster which resulted in some 35,000 casualties - all surviving military and nursing personnel were quickly seconded for rescue work, the climate and the extensive damage making their task a most harrowing one.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including letters of congratulation on the award of the R.R.C. (3), including one from the Principal Matron, Q.A.I.M.N.S. (‘You must have had a terrible time there ... ’), and the Senior Officer of the Medical Directorate, G.H.Q., India; together with a period photograph of Miss Lincoln being invested with her award by Lieutenant-General Sir W. W. Pitt-Taylor, the G.O.C. of Western Command (India), on 3 May 1936; a related newspaper cutting, and an official movement order for ‘Sister (Mrs.) G. Cox, I.M.N.S.’, dated 4 October 1946, by which date she had married an Indian Army officer.