Beschreibung:

An impressive Great War D.S.O. group of ten awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel H. J. Williams, King’s Dragoon Guards, late Regimental A.D.C. to Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R.; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, S.A. 1901, S.A. 1902 (Capt., 1/Drgn. Gds.) the last two clasps contemporary tailor’s copies; 1914 Star (Major, 1/D. Gds.); British War and Victory Medals, with oak leaf M.I.D. emblem (Lt. Col.); General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Iraq (Lt. Col.); Delhi Durbar 1911; Austria, Order of Franz Joseph, Commander’s neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels, the suspension ring stamped with maker’s mark ‘V.M.’; Order of the Iron Crown, Officer’s breast badge, silver-gilt and enamels by Rothe, Wien, enamel chipped on obverse shield; Franz Joseph Jubilee Medal 1848-1908, silver, generally good very fine or better (10) £2000-2500 Footnote The group is sold with several original documents including his first Commission as 2nd Lieutenant, 25 February, 1891; D.S.O. Warrant, dated 4 June, 1917; Mention in Despatches certificate, dated 18 March, 1917; Austrian award certificates for the Order of the Iron Crown, dated 23 July, 1904, and for the Order of Franz Joseph, dated 21 June, 1907; Buckingham Palace ‘Permission to Wear’ documents for the Austrian decorations. Henry John Williams was born on 11 July 1870, and educated at Uppingham. He was commissioned into the King’s Dragoon Guards on 4 March 1891, becoming Lieutenant on 1 March 1893, and Captain on 13 September 1898. He served in the South African war 1901-02, taking pat in the operations in the Transvaal, Orange River Colony and Cape Colony. He was taken prisoner at Hammilfontein on 14 February 1901, being released shortly after. His elder brother, Edward Arthur, also served in the King’s Dragoon Guards and was killed in action at Orebyfontein, Orange River Colony, on 9 November 1901, while serving with Bethune’s Mounted Infantry. After the Boer War, Henry Williams spent some time in Vienna as Regimental Aide-de-Camp at the Court of the Emperor Franz Joseph who was Colonel-in-Chief of the King’s Dragoon Guards. Whilst there he became friendly with the Archduke Ferdinand, later assassinated at Sarajevo. The Emperor awarded him the Order of the Iron Crown in 1904 and the Order of Franz Joseph in 1907, and in 1908 he received the silver medal to commemorate the 60th Jubilee of the Emperor. Williams was Adjutant of the Regiment from April 1905 until June 1906 when he received his promotion to Major. In the Great War he took command of the Regiment at Bernaville on 16 October 1915 until May 1916. He then took command of the Worcestershire Yeomanry in Palestine from September 1916 (twice mentioned in despatches and awarded the D.S.O.). He again commanded the King’s Dragoon Guards during the Arab uprising in Iraq 1919-21 and retired in 1923 to live in North Berwick where he died in 1935.