Beschreibung:

(x) 'Bullets whizz over our heads all day and riddle the tops of houses; today the Fortifications Committee has begun constructing bomb-proof shelters in case they start shelling us from the Ch'ien Men.' Ker writes on 25 June 1900, plenty more would come his way in the following weeks. A rare Boxer rebellion ‘Defence of Legations’ group of four awarded to Mr W. P. 'Bill' Ker, C.M.G., Vice-Consul and Second Chinese Secretary at the British Legation during the siege of Peking, later a long-served Consul-General at Tientsin The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, C.M.G., Companion’s breast Badge, silver-gilt and enamel, in its R. & S. Garrard & Co. case of issue, both centres with chips to enamel; China 1900, 1 clasp, Defence of Legations (W. P. Ker, Vice-Consul) officially engraved naming in the usual style for Officers; Coronation 1911; China, Republic, Presidential Inauguration Commemorative Medal of Yuan Shi-kai as the first President, 10 October 1913, silver-gilt and enamel, the reverse with finely enamelled crossed national flags, Chinese characters, ears of grain, etc., the last three mounted court-style as worn by Hunt & Roskell Ltd, good very fine (4) William Pollock Ker - or Bill to his friends and comrades - was born on 12 December 1864, son of the Reverend W. T. Ker, of Deskford, Banffshire. He graduated as an M.A. from Aberdeen University and, having passed a competitive examination, was appointed a Student Interpreter in China on 26 July 1888. He was promoted to be a 2nd Class Assistant in April 1894, and a 1st Class Assistant in September 1897. He was Acting Consul at Soochow in 1897 and 1898, and Acting Vice-Consul at Shanghai in 1898 and 1899. Employed as an Assistant in the Chinese Secretary’s Office at Peking from 28 May 1899 to 15 September 1901 and was present throughout the siege of the Legations at Peking, 20 June-14 August 1900. His letter of 25 June continues: 'We have a General Committee to supervise all the internal arrangements, subdivided into Fortifications, Sanitation, Commissariat, Registration, and so on, but it has not yet got into very smooth working order. Chinese labour is supplied by refugees from the Nantang who are deposited in the Fu opposite but they are poorly fed and hardly worked. Bullets whizz over our heads all day and riddle the tops of houses; today the Fortifications Committee has begun constructing bomb-proof shelters in case they start shelling us from the Ch'ien Men.' He was mentioned in Sir Claude MacDonald’s Siege of Peking despatch in the following terms: ‘Mr Cockburn, besides acting as a volunteer in the barricades of the West Wall, was in charge of the very important correspondence which took place between the enemy and myself, commencing on the 16th July. By means of this correspondence much valuable time was gained, which enabled our defences to be considerably strengthened, so that, when the final assaults were delivered, they were repulsed with heavy loss to the attackers. Mr Cockburn’s house was especially selected by the enemy for their attentions; several shells struck and burst on the roof, and rifle bullets pierced the mosquito curtains, besides other parts of the house. Mr Ker was a very able second to to Mr Cockburn; he came particularly under my notice as a conscientious worker.’ That work in Cockburn's House - or Fort Cockburn during the siege - would surely have seen Ker called to action on the British Nordenfeldt gun mounted in that region, when Sergeant J. Murphy, Royal Marines, was unable to man it. Six days after the lifting of the siege, another victim was claimed in the form of Ker’s baby son, Murray, aged one year and ten months. With this sad event behind him, Ker continued as Acting Consul at Wuhu from October 1901 to April 1902, when he was promoted to be Consul at Wuhu. He was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in June 1903 and accordingly returned to London. He transferred to Nanking in March 1905, and was Acting Consul-Gen