Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War Dental Surgeon’s O.B.E. group of four awarded to Surgeon Lieutenant J. G. A. Fairbank, Royal Navy

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) Officer’s 1st type breast badge, silver, hallmarks for London 1919; British War and Victory Medals (Surg. Lt. J. G. A. Fairbank. R.N.); British Red Cross Society medal for war service 1914-1918, mounted as worn; together with the related miniature medals, these similarly mounted, extremely fine (4) £300-£400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Small Collection of Medals to Naval Surgeons.

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In total 88 Dental Surgeons saw service during the course of the Great War, five of these receiving the O.B.E. in recognition of their services and four being Mentioned in Despatches.

O.B.E. (Military) London Gazette 19 August 1919:
‘For valuable services in H.M.S. Bacchante and at the R.N.B. Chatham. This officer entered the R.N. on 24 November 1916, and served in H.M.S. Bacchante and at the R.N.B. Chatham as Inspecting Medical Officer for Dentistry. He is a very able Officer and has effected many improvements in the War in dentistry.’

John Gerald Atkinson Fairbank was born John Gerald Fairbank Atkinson in London in 1882, the son of John and France Atkinson (née Fairbank), and the older brother of Charles Atkinson. He was educated at Epsom College, qualifing M.B. St Barts. 1903 and from the Royal Dental Hospital 1905. At some stage in his early medical training he adopted the surname Fairbank. He was commissioned Temporary Surgeon-Lieutenant (Dental) in the Royal Navy on 24 November 1916, serving at R.N.H. Plymouth, and in H.M. Ships Bacchante (1917) and Pembroke (1917-18). For his services during the Great War he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (as also was his brother, Surgeon Lieutenant Charles Henry Fairbank Atkinson, R.N.V.R.). He was demobilised in January and returned to his pre-War practice in Wimpole Street, London.

Sold with copied research.