Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War ‘Western Front’ D.S.O. group of five awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel F. J. Langdon, King's Liverpool Regiment, who was three times Mentioned in Despatches

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar; British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Major F. J. Langdon); Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, 2 clasps, Sudan 1899, Gedid (Capt. F. J. Langdon, The King’s (L’pool) Regt.) contemporarily engraved naming; France, Third Republic, Croix de Guerre, bronze, reverse dated 1914-1918, with silver star emblem on riband, mounted court-style for display in this order, good very fine (5) £1,800-£2,200

Woodliffe Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, May 2011.

D.S.O. London Gazette 3 June 1918.

M.I.D. London Gazette 30 January 1900 (Pursuit and defeat of the Khalifa; battle of Gedid); 11 December 1917; 1 January 1918.

French Croix de Guerre London Gazette 7 October 1919.

Francis John Langdon was born on 18 August 1873, at Clifton, Bristol. He was educated at Waymouth College and was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in 3/4th King’s (Liverpool) Regiment (Militia) on 17 October 1891, becoming Lieutenant in April 1893. He transferred to a commission in the 1st King’s Liverpool Regiment at the end of that year. He was attached to the Egyptian Army from March 1899 to March 1901, and held the rank of Bimbashi with XIIIth Sudanese under Maxse Bey, taking part in the pursuit and defeat of the Khalifa in 1899 and at the battle of Gedid (Um Debeykarat).

Langdon returned to the King's Liverpool Regiment in March 1901, retired in April 1910 and was transferred to Reserve of Officers. Mobilised in September 1914 to the 11th Battalion, Liverpool Regiment, he transferred to the Army Service Corps in November 1914 and raised the 21st Divisional Train which he commanded until 7 December 1914.

Langdon was employed on Staff Duties from 23 January 1915 to 20 December 1918, being appointed D.A.Q.M.G. to the 62nd Division. Promoted to Major in January 1916, he served in France and Belgium from 2 January 1917 to 11 November 1918. He was appointed A.Q.M.G to 7 Corps on 22 September 1918, and held a temporary appointment to H.Q. 4th Army as Liaison Officer with II American Corps in October 1918. In December 1918 he went to Base H.Q. at Havre as temporary Lieutenant-Colonel when A.Q.M.G., and was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel on 28 May 1919, transferring to the unemployed list the following day.

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