Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A particularly fine Great War M.B.E. group of five awarded to Miss Ada Crosby, British Red Cross Society and Order of St. John of Jerusalem, who ‘transformed’ the Buekers Hotel in Finsbury Square into a fully functioning 100-bed Auxiliary Hospital

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Civil) Member’s 1st type, lady’s shoulder badge, silver, hallmarks for London 1916, in Garrard & Co. Ltd. case of issue; The Order of St John of Jerusalem, Dame of Grace set of insignia, comprising shoulder badge, silver and enamel, with heraldic beasts in angles, in case of issue; Star, silver and enamel, with heraldic beasts in angles; Jubilee 1935, unnamed as issued, on lady’s bow riband; Coronation 1937, unnamed as issued, on lady’s bow riband; Voluntary Medical Service Medal, silver, with three Additional Award Bars (Ada Crosby) good very fine and better (6) £500-£700

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Norman Gooding Collection.

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M.B.E. London Gazette 7 June 1918:
‘Superintendent, Domestic Staff, City of London Auxiliary Hospital, Finsbury Square.’

Ada Crosby was born in 1860, daughter of Sir Thomas Boor Crosby, M.D., L.L.D., F.R.C.S., a prominent London surgeon and Lord Mayor of the City of London from 1911 to 1912. A long standing member of the British Red Cross and Order of St John of Jerusalem, she was appointed Dame of Grace in the London Gazette of 4 March 1913 and was awarded the M.B.E. for her work at the City of London Auxiliary Hospital. A fine contemporary article published in The British Journal of Nursing, titled ‘Care of the Wounded’ and dated 4 September 1915, adds: ‘Miss Crosby, the Commandant, an ex-Lady Mayoress, is there, daily with Miss G. A. Rogers, and in their capable hands a transformation is going on, and a new landmark created at the junction of Finsbury Square and Christopher Street, where all who run may read that the City of London Red Cross Hospital henceforth dominates that pleasant corner.’

Raised Honorary Secretary to the B.R.C.S., Crosby also served as Vice President of Birkbeck College and sat for many years on the St. Pancras Borough Council. The recipient’s obituary published in The Times on 9 October 1948, further notes: ‘Her father was a widower when he was elected Lord Mayor and she filled the role of Lady Mayoress during his term of office with grace and distinction.’