Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A C.B.E. group of five to Lieutenant-Colonel R. M. Daniel, Royal Garrison Artillery, who as a Captain in the British South Africa Police served at the Defence of Mafeking, latterly Resident Commissioner of the Bechuanaland Protectorate

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Civil) Commander’s 1st type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, with short section of neck riband, in Garrard, London, case of issue; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Orange Free State, Defence of Mafeking, Transvaal, top lugs removed (Capt. R. M. Daniel. B.S.A. Police.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902, top lugs removed (Capt. R. M. Daniel. B.S.A. Police.); British War and (unilingual) Victory Medals (Major R. M. Daniel) minor edge bruising, toned, nearly extremely fine (5) £2,000-£2,400

Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, June 2009.

C.B.E. London Gazette 3 June 1927.

Roland Mortimer Daniel, British South Africa Police, served at the Defence of Mafeking. During the siege he is recorded as being involved in the production of powder and fuses in the ordnance factory that was formerly the railway workshops:
‘An Ordnance Factory had been started, formed in the railway workshops, and conducted by Connely and Cloughlan, of the Locomotive Department. Daniels [sic], of the Police, supplemented their efforts by making both powder and fuses. The factory turned out shells, and eventually constructed a 5.5 inch smooth-bore gun, which threw a round shell with great accuracy to a considerable range.’ (The Great Boer War, by Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle refers).

During the Great War Daniel served as a Major in the Royal Garrison Artillery on the Western Front from 30 March 1916. Later with the Royal Air Force, he was ranked as an Acting Lieutenant-Colonel in May 1918 and Acting Colonel in December 1918, serving as an Administrative Officer under the D.G.A.P. His Great War medals were sent out to the ‘Resident Commissioner, Mafeking, Cape Province, South Africa’. Later, ranked as a Lieutenant-Colonel, he was employed by the Colonial Office in South Africa on survey work and was latterly the Resident Commissioner of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, 1928-30 having previously been awarded the C.B.E. in 1927 as an Assistant Resident Commissioner.

Sold with an archive of original hand-written letters from Roland and/or Clare Daniel to members of the family. From The Residency/Government House, Francistown, Bechuanaland, 1904 (2); 1907 (7), plus postcard; from Paris, 1908; from Francistown 1908 (3); aboard ship 1908; from Naples 1908; from Dixon’s Hotel, Mafeking, 1909; from Francistown, 1909 (3); 1911 (4); 1912 (6); from Cape Town, 1913; from Francistown, 1913 (1); 1914 (1).

Together with a typed letter to Lieutenant-Colonel R. M. Daniel, C.B.E., c/o Colonial Office, Downing Street, London, from the Government Secretary’s Office, Mafeking, Bechuanaland Protectorate, dated 30 April 1930, reading, ‘I have the honour, by direction, to inform you that in a despatch recently received from the High Commissioner, His Excellency remarks as follows: I very much appreciate the personal interest which Colonel Daniel has taken in this work which represents a considerable advance upon any previous map’.

Sold with a red Chinese-lacquered box originally used to house the medals, and copied research, including medal roll extracts and a photographic image of the Officers involved in the Defence and Relief of Mafeking, featuring the recipient.