The Rare D.S.O. and Ernestine House Order Group of (9) awarded to Colonel Claud Macfie, Seaforth Highlanders, who in 1907 received the Ernestine House Order from H.R.H. Charles Edward, the Duke of Albany and Regency Duke of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, Colonel-in-Chief of the Seaforth Highlanders (1905-1915). He served in the Great War and took part in the fighting first in Gallipoli, and then in France and Flanders, later receiving a D.S.O. for his services, comprising: Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., in silver-gilt and enamels; 1914-15 Star (Capt. C. Macfie. Sea. Highrs); British War and Victory Medals, 1914-1919, the latter with bronze ‘M.i.D.’ spray of oakleaves upon ribbon (Major C. Macfie.); Defence and War Medals, 1930-45, unnamed as issued; Coronation 1937, unnamed as issued; Germany, Saxe-Coburg Gotha, Ernestine House Order, Officer’s breast badge in gold and enamels, with the original warrant and Buckingham Palace ‘permission to wear’ letter; Germany, Saxe-Coburg Gotha, Silver Jubilee Medal, 1930, in silver (this loose);
Group swing-mounted as worn (the last medal is loose), in the original Spink & Son leather & gilt case, toned, extremely fine.
Also available to the buyer is a superb, very large, heavy photograph album of regimental photographs, menus, programmes and other ephemera relating to the Seaforth Highlanders from circa 1902 to pre-WW1 (spine damaged, internally excellent), (shipping will be extra and will depend on the buyer's location).
D.S.O.: London Gazette: 3 June 1918 M.I.D.: London Gazette: 11 December 1917, Ernestine House Order: 21 June 1907 (as stated on original warrant, not in Gazette)
Lieutenant-Colonel Claud Macfie (1878-1963) was born on 4 June 1878 at Birkdale, Lancashire, the son of William Macfie, a sugar refiner from Scotland, and Jane Crawford Macfie (née Allan). He received a commission as Second Lieutenant with the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, King’s Liverpool Regiment on 1 March 1898, but joined the Seaforth Highlanders on 16 February 1900. Promoted to Lieutenant on 27 July 1901, he was station in Cairo between 1901 and 1903, before moving with his regiment to Meerut, India, where he remained until early 1906 – then returning home and being promoted to Captain on 27 June that year. He was awarded the badge of the Ernestine House Order on 10 June 1907 by Charles Edward, the Duke of Albany and Regency Duke of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, who was appointed Colonel-in-Chief of the Seaforth Highlanders in 1905 and remained in that position until 1915, during the Great War. Macfie continued to serve in the years before the Great War, being seconded for service as Adjutant with the Territorial Force on 9 April 1913.During the Great War, his Medal Index Card states that he saw active service in Gallipoli, entering that Theatre of War on 30 June 1915, initially serving with the Highland Light Infantry and Scottish Rifles, and later returning to the Seaforth Highlanders. He was promoted to Major on 1 September 1915, was appointed D.A.A. & Q.M.G. on the Staff on 23 March 1917, and received a mention in despatches on 11 December 1917. The following year he was made a recipient of the Distinguished Service Order on 3 June 1918, for his services in France and Flanders, and continued for almost two years more before being placed on retired pay on 30 March 1920. He received his D.S.O. from the King at the investiture at Buckingham Palace on Friday 11 June 1920, and on 1 May 1929 he was given the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel with the 5th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment. He was given the brevet of Colonel on 1st May 1933, prior to his final retirement. In his private life he married the Noelle Leslie (nee Dyer-Edwards), widow of the 19th Earl of Rothes. She became famous as a survivor of the disastrous sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic on 10 April 1912 – taking charge of Lifeboat No.8, assisting with the rowing and encouraging other survivors (being given the moniker ‘the plucky little countess’). After the death of Earl Rothes in early 1927, she met and married the then Major Claud Macfie, living in Airds, near Oban, later that year, while retaining her title. During WW2, research suggests that the London flat in which they both lived was destroyed by a V2 rocket, but both survived the encounter. They settled in Fairford, Gloucester, coinciding with his late appointment as Lieutenant-Colonel with the 5th Gloucesters (1929-33). Colonel Macfie died on 23 December 1963 at Cheltenham, at the age of 85.