Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Chaplain to the Forces the Very Reverend O. Victor, Royal Army Chaplains’ Department, later Dean of Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia

British War and Victory Medals (Rev. O. Victor.) good very fine (2) £70-£90

The Very Reverend Osmund Victor was educated at Hatfield College, Durham, and Ely Theological College, and was ordained Deacon in 1903, and Priest in 1904. He arrived in South Africa in 1910, and was appointed Warden of the College of the Resurrection, Johannesburg, as well as serving as Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Pretoria. He served as a Temporary Chaplain to the Forces during the latter stages of the Great War, before returning to Africa to continue his work building up the Church as one of the pioneers of the Anglican Church in South Africa. He was appointed Dean of Salisbury Cathedral, Southern Rhodesia, in 1939, and continued there until his retirement in 1954, aged 74.

Sir John Kennedy wrote: ‘Osmund Victor must rank amongst the greatest of the devoted band of churchmen who have given their lives to the Church in South Africa and Rhodesia. Except for an interlude of war service in France, he lived and worked in Southern Africa for forty years. For twenty years a missionary, and for fifteen years Dean of Salisbury, his ministry was surely unique in its range and quality.’

Sold with a copy of the recipient’s book, The Salient of South Africa, published in 1931; and a copy of Priest and Pioneer, A Memoir of Osmund Victor, by Doris Thompson.