Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A post-War ‘Civil Division’ C.B.E., Second War ‘Military Division’ O.B.E. group of eight awarded to Colonel H. B. Somerville, Royal Corps of Signals

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Civil) Commander’s 2nd type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, with neck riband, in ‘D.S. & S.’ case of issue; The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) Officer’s 2nd type breast badge, silver-gilt; British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. H. B. Somerville.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Coronation 1953; Efficiency Decoration, G.VI.R., 2nd issue, Territorial, silver and silver-gilt, reverse officially dated ‘1950’, with integral top riband bar, mounted as worn, together with the recipient’s related miniature awards and various Royal Corps of Signals buttons, good very fine (8) £400-500

C.B.E. London Gazette 2 January 1950: Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Benson Somerville, O.B.E., Regional Director, Northern Ireland Region, General Post Office.

O.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1946.

Henry Benson Somerville was commissioned Second Lieutenant, Liverpool Regiment (Territorial Force) on 31 October 1917, and served with them during the Great War. He was appointed an Assistant Engineer in the Post Office on 16 May 1924, and transferred to the Supplementary Reserve of Officers, Royal Corps of Signals, with the rank of Second Lieutenant, on 10 December 1927. He served with the Royal Corps of Signals during the Second World War, and for his services was created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1946 New Year’s Honours List. Somerville was appointed an Honorary Colonel of a Territorial Army unit on 15 July 1950 and was awarded the Efficiency Decoration that year. He relinquished his appointment on 14 July 1955, retaining the rank of Colonel.