Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Knight Bachelor’s group of four awarded to Air Mechanic First Class Sir John L. Blake, Royal Naval Air Service, later Comptroller General of HM Patent Office, who received the accolade of knighthood from H.M. Queen Elizabeth II on 27 February 1952 in the very first investiture carried out by the new Queen at the start of her reign

Knight Bachelor’s Badge, 2nd type breast badge, silver-gilt and enamel, hallmarks for London 1951, in Royal Mint case of issue; British War and Victory Medals (F.13174 J. L. Blake. A.M.1 R.N.A.S.) in named card box of issue; Coronation 1953, unnamed as issued, in card box of issue, extremely fine (4) £400-£500

Knight Bachelor London Gazette 1 January 1952: John Lucian Blake, M.SC., Esq., Comptroller-General, Patent Office.

Sir John Lucian Blake was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, on 28 January 1898 and was educated at Watford Grammar School. He served with the Royal Naval Air Service during the Great War in H.M.S. President II from 18 April 1916, and following the cessation of hostilities joined HM Patent Officer. He served with the Patents Office for thirty years, and was latterly Comptroller General, for which services he was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 1952 New Year’s Honours’ List. He was knighted by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on 27 February 1952, in what was the very first investiture held by the new Queen at the start of her reign, and died suddenly in Paris on 18 May 1954, aged 56.

Sold with a portrait photograph of the recipient; a UNESCO Paris 1951 lapel badge; various souvenir menus from formal luncheons and dinners in the 1950s, including one for a luncheon in honour of the touring Pakistan Cricket Team in 1954; a boxed set of two packs of playing cards with the initials ‘JLB’ on the backs; a sterling silver presentation penknife, the case bearing the recipient’s engraved initials, and the heraldic crest of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire, in leather case; and copied research.