Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Family Group:

An Egypt D.C.M. group of five awarded to Sergeant D. Gunn, Cameron Highlanders, who was dangerously wounded at the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir, 13 September 1882. Subsequently visited in Netley Hospital by Queen Victoria, he was appointed gatekeeper of St. Anne’s Gate, Windsor Park on Her Majesty’s personal insistence
Distinguished Conduct Medal, V.R. (2125. Sergt. D. Gunn. 1/Camn: Highrs. 13. Sept. 82); Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 1 clasp, Tel-El-Kebir (2125. Sergt. D. Gunn. 1/Cam’n: Highrs:); Khedive’s Star 1882, unnamed as issued; Jubilee 1897, bronze, unnamed as issued; Coronation 1911, silver, unnamed as issued, mounted as worn in this order, heavy contact marks and pitting, good fine

Three: Motor Cyclist D. Gunn, French Red Cross
British War and Victory Medals (D. Gunn.); Jubilee 1935, mounted as worn, scratch to obverse of BWM, nearly extremely fine (8) £3,000-£3,400

D.C.M. Submitted to the Queen, 4 January 1883.

Donald Gunn was born into an Army family, his grandfather having served in the Cameron Highlanders during the Peninsula War, and his uncle having served in the same Regiment during the Crimea War, and attested for the Cameron Highlanders on 13 June 1878. Advanced Sergeant on 20 January 1882, he served alongside his cousin with the 1st Battalion throughout the Egyptian Campaign of 1882, and was present at the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir, 13 September 1882:

‘The weird night march upon Tel-el-Kebir, long to be retained in the annals of the regiment and the country, can never be forgotten by those who took part in it: the monotonous tramp, the sombre lines, the dimly discerned sea of desert faintly lighted by the stars, were at once ghostly and impressive. The pace was necessarily slow; one halt was made and, shortly afterwards, the directing star having become concealed, another one was chosen, and the direction slightly change to the right.
Just as dawn was breaking two shots were fired from the left front, and Private Pollock of the regiment fell dead. It was now evident that the regiment was close upon the enemy. Bayonets were at once fixed. In a few seconds these two shots were followed by others; the bugles of the Egyptian rang out, shells screamed above, and a line of fire poured from the enemy’s trenches. The 79th moved steadily on in an unbroken line, not a shot was fired in reply; but on the “advance” from the brigade being sounded, Lieutenant-Colonel Leith galloped to the front, waving his sword and crying, “Come on, 79th!” Breaking into double time, to the shrill music of the pipes, and cheering as they ran, the regiment charged the enemy’s lines. Flash after flash continued along the line until the bayonets of the 79th had done their work, and the inside of the trench was full of dead and dying. Daylight was breaking, and the regiment moving to the left cleared the trench, and drove back the enemy in confusion through a small camp in rear of it.’ (Records of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, Vol. I refers).

In the storming of Tel-el-Kebir on 13 September 1882 the Cameron Highlanders 17 other ranks killed or mortally wounded, and 3 officers and 44 other ranks wounded, including Sergeant Donald Gunn, who was dangerously wounded by a bullet to the chest. Eighteen Officers and men of the Regiment, including Gunn, were Mentioned in General Sir Garnet Wolseley’s Despatch (London Gazette 2 November 1882), and for his gallant conduct he was additionally awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, one of only four D.C.M.s awarded to the Regiment for the entire Egypt and Sudan campaign 1882-89.

Invalided to England on 31 October 1882, Queen Victoria, when visiting the wounded at Netley Hospital, ‘took special notice of Sergeant Gunn who still had a bullet lodged just above his heart.’ (79th News refers). He was discharged to pension on 8 May 1883, and in July 1886, on the personal insistence of Queen Victoria, was appointed Keeper of Queen Anne’s Gate, Windsor Park, a position he held until his retirement in 1921. On the outbreak of the Great War he joined the National Reserve, and was employed for nine months guarding German Prisoners of War. He died on 9 September 1940, and was buried at Windsor on 13 September, on the 58th Anniversary of the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir. His youngest son, Norman Gunn, served with the Cameron Highlanders during the Great War, and was killed in action at the Battle of Loos on 28 September 1915.

Donald Gunn served as a Motor Cyclist during the Great War with the French Red Cross on the Western Front from November 1917.