Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A post-War ‘Civil Division’ C.B.E., Second War Home Guard ‘Military Division’ M.B.E. group of six awarded to Major E. Cawkell, Essex Home Guard, Late Honourable Artillery Company and Rifle Brigade

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Civil) Commander’s 2nd type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, with full neck riband; The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 2nd type breast badge, silver; 1914-15 Star (2179 Pte. E. Cawkell. H.A.C. (Inf.)); British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. E. Cawkell.); Defence Medal, mounted as worn very fine or better (6) £400-£500

Provenance: Norman Brooks Collection, Spink, July 2015.

C.B.E. London Gazette 13 June 1957: Edmund Cawkell, Esq., M.B.E., J.P.
‘For political and public services in Essex.’

M.B.E. London Gazette 8 June 1944: Major Edmund Cawkell, Essex Home Guard.
The Recommendation, dated 12.3.1944, states: ‘Major Cawkell has been in the L.D.V. and Home Guard since its beginning. He Commanded "B" Company most efficiently, having raised it from the beginning, and put many of his buildings at the disposal of the Home Guard for equipment and Ammunition stores free of charge. He has been my Second in Command for close upon two years, and has performed his duties in a most capable fashion both in the field and as an administrator.’

Edmund Cawkell was born in Glasgow in 1890 and was educated at Ampleforth College. He attested for the Honourable Artillery Company on 8 September 1914, and served with the H.A.C. Infantry during the Great War on the Western Front from 29 December 1914, where he was wounded in action on 6 April 1915. Commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade on 12 March 1916, he was wounded a second time by a machine gun bullet to the left thigh at Delville Wood on 18 August 1916, during the capture of Orchard Trench.

In civilian life Cawkell served as Chairman of Stansted Rural District Council, and was a Member of Essex County Council from 1932, as well as being a Justice of the Peace. During the Second World War he served with the 12th (Stansted) Battalion, Essex Home Guard, and was promoted Major on 1 February 1941.

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