Beschreibung:

An impressive ‘fantasy’ M.C. group of thirteen ‘awarded’ to ‘Major’ E. St. J. O’Dell, Royal Field Artillery, late Bechuanaland Border Police, Cape Mounted Rifles and South African Field Artillery, later Royal Welsh Fusiliers and the Legion of Frontiersmen Military Cross, G.V.R., reverse engraved ‘Maj . E. St. J. O’Dell. S.A.F.A. R.F.A.’; British South Africa Company Medal 1890-97, reverse Matabeleland 1893, 1 clasp, Rhodesia 1896 (Tpr. D. [sic] O’Dell. B.B.P. C.M.R.) re-engraved naming; Cape of Good Hope General Service 1880-97, 1 clasp, Bechuanaland (Tpr. E. St. J. O’Dell. C.M.R.) re-engraved naming; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Natal, Orange Free State, Wepener, Transvaal, Natal clasp a tailor’s copy, with unofficial rivets between clasps (Sgt. E. St. J. O’Dell. C.M.R. P.M.P.) re-engraved naming; King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Lieut. E. St. J. O’Dell. 16th. L. C.M.R.) re-engraved naming; Natal 1906, 1 clasp, 1906 (Sgt. E. St. J. O’Dell. C.M.R.) re-engraved naming; 1914-15 Star (Sgt. E. St. J. O’Dell. S.A.I. S.A.F.A.) re-engraved naming; British War Medal 1914-20 (Capt. E. St. J. O’Dell. S.A.F.A. R.F.A.) re-engraved naming; Victory Medal 1914-19, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Maj. E. St. J. O’Dell. S.A.F.A. R.F.A.) re-engraved naming; Defence Medal, contemporarily engraved ‘Lieut. E. St. J. O’Dell. A.R.P. R.W.F.’; War Medal 1939-45, contemporarily engraved ‘Lieut. E. St. J. O’Dell. R.W.F.’; Jubilee 1887, bronze (Tptr. Cpl. E. St. J. O’Dell. C.M.R.); Army L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (Sgt. E. St. J. O’Dell. C.M.R.) re-engraved naming, the reverse additionally engraved ‘Cape of Good Hope’, mounted court-style as worn, apart from the renaming the medals all original issues, generally good very fine (13) £1,000-£1,400 Footnote Edward St. John O’Dell claimed to have been born in Donegal in 1877, the son of a Colonel George O’Dell, 12th Lancers (who was actually a Sergeant), and to have been educated at Bedford Grammar School. Emigrating to South Africa, he was employed by De Beers in Kimberley in 1893, and later that year, at the age of 16, joined the Bechuanaland Border Police for service in Matabeleland, assumed to have enlisted under his brother David’s name and date of birth. Transferring to the Cape Mounted Rifles, he started service with them during the Matabeleland Rebellion of 1896, and then in the Langberg Campaign in Bechuanaland under Lieutenant W. H. B. Phillips the following year. He claimed to have proceeded to England in 1897 as part of the Coronation Contingent [and the fact that his group contains a 1887 Jubilee Medal rather than an 1897 Jubilee Medal is presumably an oversight on the Major’s part]. O’Dell claimed to have subsequently served with the Cape Mounted Rifles during the Boer War, and to have been commissioned Second Lieutenant, seeing further service during the Natal Rebellion, before resigning in 1911. Following the outbreak of the Great War he claimed to have enlisted into the 4th South African Infantry (Transvaal Scottish) on 19 September 1914, before transferring later that year to the South African Field Artillery. He claimed to have served during the Great War in German South West Africa, Nairobi, Gaza, Jaffa, Jerusalem, East Africa, and Palestine, and stated he was twice wounded in action. Again, claiming to have been commissioned Second Lieutenant, and advanced Major, he was supposedly Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the Military Cross whilst serving with General Allenby’s Forces in Egypt. After claiming to take part in the suppression of the Rand Revolt in 1922 (for which, unfortunately, no medal was issued), O’Dell emigrated to England in 1925, and settled in Brighton. Following the outbreak of the Second World War he was granted an emergency commission in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers on 18 April 1940, and was promoted Lieutenant, before resigning his commission in March 1941, his promotion and retirement notices appearing in