Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War C.M.G. group of seven awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel A. Hosie, Royal Army Medical Corps, who served on the staff of the 9th General Hospital at Bloemfontein in 1900 and later gave evidence before the Royal Commission regarding the care and treatment of the sick and wounded in South African Hospitals

The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, C.M.G., Companion’s breast badge officially converted for neck wear, silver-gilt and enamel; East and West Africa 1887-1900, 1 clasp, Sierra Leone 1898-99 (Major A. Hosie, M.B. R.A.M.C.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State (Major A. Hosie. R.A.M.C.) engraved naming; King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Maj. A. Hosie. M.B. R.A.M.C.) engraved naming; 1914-15 Star (Lt. Col. A. Hosie. R.A.M.C.); British War and Victory Medals, with copy M.I.D. oak leaves (Lt. Col. A. Hosie.) mounted for display, generally very fine and better (7) £1,400-£1,800

C.M.G. London Gazette 5 June 1917.

M.I.D. London Gazette 1 July 1917.

Andrew Hosie was born in Inverurie on 7 February 1860, and is recorded in 1881 as a medical student at the University of Aberdeen. Graduating M.B., C.M. in 1883, and M.D. in 1885, he was appointed Surgeon in the Royal Army Medical Corps on 28 July 1886. Advanced Surgeon-Captain in 1891 and Major in 1898, the Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps notes Hosie serving on the Protectorate Expedition (Sierra Leone) as Senior Medical Officer, Falaba Columns; despatched to put down a series of tribal rebellions led by Bai Bureh, the British faced a determined opposition fuelled by strong resistance to the hut tax and Imperial rule.

Posted to South Africa during the Boer War, Hosie was called upon to give evidence at Bloemfontein on 31 August 1900. His testimony gave weight to the ‘General Conclusions on Various Points’ which found that the military and medical authorities had never anticipated the magnitude and scale of the war: ‘The R.A.M.C. was wholly insufficient in staff and equipment for such a war... Speaking of the officers as a whole, they say their conduct and capacity deserves great praise. Their devotion to their duties both at the front and in the fixed hospitals, and the unselfish way in which they have attended to the sick and wounded, often at the risk of life have been recognised by all impartial witnesses. Nevertheless, the number of those who have died during this war in discharge of their duty is unfortunately large. There were, of course, a few exceptions to the general efficiency, and cases of roughness and inattention to the wants of patients on the parts of a few officers... and wounded patients who suffered, or persons who saw the suffering made general charges against the R.A.M.C.’

Raised Lieutenant-Colonel on 28 July 1906, Hosie enjoyed the next eight years in retirement on the Isle of Wight before volunteering for service during the Great War. Initially assigned to home duties, he served in Egypt from 15 March 1915, was Mentioned in Despatches, and was created a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.