Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Rob Campbell

Many collectors will remember Rob particularly for his passion for anything related to his home town of Clevedon in Somerset. This gave him the opportunity of finding a wide variety of medals ranging from the Nepal War 1814-16 to the present day, all with a connection to Clevedon. A doyen of the local community he was Chairman of the Civic Society, Treasurer of the local Royal British Legion, and Poppy Day Organiser, as well as author of numerous books on local history subjects.

Born in North Devon in August 1947, Rob joined the Royal Air Force as a Boy Entrant in 1963. He saw service in Aden, Bahrain, and Germany, receiving the General Service Medal with the clasp South Arabia. Following his discharge from the Royal Air Force in 1977 he moved to Clevedon in Somerset, taking up employment with the Post Office (later British Telecom) as a Telephone Engineer. Whilst visiting relatives in Sydney, Australia in 2015 he was very proud to be invited as a ‘veteran’ to march in the annual Anzac parade.

Rob ‘discovered’ medals on leaving the Royal Air Force, and with his family connections to Devon started collecting to the Devonshire Regiment. He joined the Orders and Medals Research Society in April 1982 and soon widened his collecting interest to recipients from the greater Bristol area, with a particular interest in the Royal Air Force for World War Two. He served on the OMRS Executive Committee from 2002 to 2013 in many capacities including Insurance, Enquiries, and Convention Organiser, and additionally ran the society table at the Yate medal fair for some years. In 2010 he was awarded the OMRS Distinguished Service Medal in recognition of his service to the society in general and to the executive committee.

Following Rob’s wishes and at the specific request of his widow Norma, his ‘Clevedon Collection’ is now offered for sale in memory of this true friend of the medal collecting fraternity. His ‘Devonshire Regiment’ and ‘West Country’ collections will be included in forthcoming DNW auctions. The photograph of Rob was taken during the European Phaleristic Societies’ annual convention in Dresden in the spring of 2016. He is sadly missed but would wish that his ‘friends from Clevedon’, now being offered in this sale, will give as much pleasure to their new custodians as they did for him.

Peter Helmore

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