Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Tibet 1903-04, 1 clasp, Gyantse (Lieut. B. W. E. Dunsford. 19th. Punjabis.) minor edge bruise, good very fine £800-£1,000

This lot is to be sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of H.M. King Edward VII Medals.

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Bertie William Edgecumbe Dunsford was born in 1881 and was educated at Wellington College. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant initially in the Bedfordshire Regiment on 8 January 1901. After an initial period of service with the Bedfordshire Regiment, he was promoted to Lieutenant in the Indian Army on 8 April 1903 and served as a Company Commander with the 19th Punjabi Regiment during the expedition to Tibet of 1903-04. While the roll confirms his service with the 19th Punjabis in Tibet, it appears to show that he is not entitled to the Gyantse clasp (although the clasp offered here is genuine, and the medal appears to be entirely as worn).

Dunsford was subsequently appointed Adjutant with the Malay State Guides in 1907, with whom he was employed with the local rank of Captain in 1908. During the Great War, he re-attested for service with the 10th Royal Fusiliers in the Great War (entitled to a 1914-15 Trio), initially enlisting as a Private on 30 July 1915, but soon after was commissioned on 6 July 1916, and eventually returned to his old rank of Captain by the end of the Great War. He M.I.C. gives a contact address at 10 Victoria Crescent, St. Heliers, Jersey. He died in 1949.

Sold with copied medal roll extract (that stats ‘no’ for entitlement to the clasp); and copied Medal Index Card.