Auction Catalogue
An O.B.E. and gold Kaisar-i-Hind group of four awarded to Sir Alfred Pickford, Kt., Member of the Legislative Council of India and a Major in the Calcutta Light Horse
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Civil) Officer’s 2nd type breast badge, in its Royal Mint case of issue; Kaisar-i-Hind, G.V.R., 1st class, 2nd type, gold, complete with top suspension brooch; Delhi Durbar 1911, unnamed; Indian Volunteer Forces Decoration, G.V.R., (Maj. A. D. Pickford, 3rd Cal. Lt. Horse I.D.F.) the last three mounted as worn, extremely fine (4) £1,000-£1,200
Provenance: Richard B. Magor Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, July 2003.
O.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1946.
Alfred Donald Pickford was born on 20 May 1872, and was educated at George Watson’s College and Fettes College, Edinburgh. He was commissioned in the United Provinces Light Horse in May 1903, becoming Captain in September 1905. He transferred to the Calcutta Light Horse as a Major in March 1911. A partner of Begg Roberts & Co., London, and Chairman of the International Tea Market Expansion Board, Pickford was appointed a Member of the Indian Legislative Council in 1921 and Knighted the same year. He was also Chief Commissioner for Boy Scouts in India and devoted more than 30 years service to the Scout Association, resulting in the award of the O.B.E. in January 1946, by which time he was Commissioner for Publicity at the International H.Q. in London. Sir Alfred Pickford died on 7 October 1947. Sold with research including a lengthy obituary from The Scouter.
Pickford’s Volunteer Long Service Medal (Major, C. Lt. Horse), together with an OBE and silver-gilt Kaisar-I-Hind, was sold in these rooms on 1 March 2017 (Lot 13) and previously as a single medal in the Alan Wolfe Collection in December 2005
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