Orders, Decorations & Medals - Australian Groups

Lot 1108    Session 5 (2:30pm Tuesday 26th July)    Orders, Decorations & Medals - Australian Groups

Estimate $1,500
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $1,800

FAMILY GROUP: Uncle: South Africa Medal 1877-79, - clasp - 1877-8-9, with brooch-pin bar. Sergt C.Higgins. No 9. Troop, C.M.Rifles. Engraved. Nephew: Group of Six: 1914-15 Star; British War Medal 1914-18; Victory Medal 1914-19; War Medal 1939-45; Australia Service Medal 1939-45; Efficiency Decoration (GRI). 4392 Gnr. E.G. (note officially named incorrectly G instead of H) Ironmonger. 3/F.A.Bde. A.I.F. on first medal, 4392 ER/2/Cpl E.H.Ironmonger 1 F.A Bde A.I.F. on second medal, ER-2-Cpl. E.H.Ironmonger 1 F.A.B. A.I.F. on third medal, N17427 E.H.Ironmonger on fourth and fifth medals, N.17427. Maj. Ironmonger. E.H. C.M.F. on last medal. The last medal engraved, all other medals impressed. Good very fine.

Together with,
1. Book titled Higgins, A Short Family History (compiled from wills, parish registers, India Office records, family documents, etc) by Charles Alleyne Higgins, December 1937, hard cover, 62pp + 36pp of appendices.
2. Button for the 77th (East Middlesex) (also Duke of Cambridge's Own) Regiment of Foot.
3. Commissioning document from The Earl of Lichfield for the appointment of Thomas Ironmonger to be a Lieutenant in the 23rd Rifle Volunteer Corps of the County of Stafford, dated 5 February 1864.
4. Reference for Mr E.H.Ironmonger from The New Zealand and Australian Land Company Limited dated 2nd October 1919 certifying that he was employed as jackeroo gaining station experience at Wingadee Station, Coonamble and afterwards for about two years was in charge of the books at Quabothoo Station, Quambone.
5. Newspaper birth notice for Eric Harold Ironmonger, Sep 20, 1890.
6. Large b&w photo of Garden Island Rifle Club, Second Annual Dinner, Saturday 24th July 1943 with names of all present including Major Ironmonger, also other military photos featuring Ironmonger.
7. British Passport Commonwealth of Australia to Eric Ironmonger issued 1955.
8. Various WWI military postcard photos including some photos of E.H.Ironmonger, also other Ironmonger family related envelopes or cards, one for Association Belge de Secours aux Militaires Blesses & Malades and a letter dated 1870 from historic Battle of Sedan site in France to Charlie Ironmonger.
9. Union Bank of Australia Bill of Exchange No.68633 dated 9th August 1888 to Thomas Ironmonger Sons & Co for sixty three pounds seven shillings & sixpence to the Union Bank of Australia Limited, 1, Bank Buildings, Lothbury, London.
10. Case for Efficiency Decoration.

ED: CAG No.55 20/3/1947, p929.

Uncle: Charles Higgins was born in 1854. He was the grandson of Lt-Colonel Charles Thomas Higgins, H.E.I.C.S. 1785-1827, a prominent soldier. His father moved to Australia with his family in 1880 and settled in Melbourne. He served in the South Africa Wars 1877-79 with Cape Mounted Rifles. There is no record that he died in the war but he did die on the West Coast of Africa. His sister, the youngest member of the family was Catherine Emma, born in 1859 and she married Charles William Ironmonger of Wolverhampton in 1889. They went to Australia in 1891, the year that her father died, and it was here that their son Eric was born. They returned to England but Charles William Ironmonger's business, Ironmonger's Rope Works, went into liquidation in 1902 and after WWI they made a permanent move to Australia with their two sons, Eric Harold and Humphrey Carlos.

Nephew: Eric Harold Ironmonger, station bookkeeper, age 24, born at Fitzroy, Melbourne, Vic; Enl.08Mar1915 at Liverpool, NSW, previous service with Territorial Forces Reserve; Emb.26Jun1915; to 2nd Bty at Gallipoli 16Aug1915; to hospital 16Sep1915 then regularly in and out of hospital with rheumatism; attached to 1st AA Pay Corps from 1st FAB 11Jan1917; RTA 02Apr1919; Disch.14Sep1919 as Medically Unfit. WWII: Enl.11Jul1941; Disch.23Apr1946 as Major ex HQs NSW Lines of Communication Area.

Eric Ironmonger was born in Australia and went to England with his parents at an early age. He attended the King Edward VI School from 1902-4. After school he served an apprenticeship with National Telephone Co, Wolverhampton. He also enlisted in the Territorial Forces Army Reserves in England when 18 years of age. In WWI he served in the AIF, including service on Gallipoli. In the early 1920s he purchased a block of land in Corumbene Road, Gosford from Garnet Adcock (See lot 1120 in this sale). He also served in WWII and after the war he returned to take control of the printing business he founded. He died in 1966. In 2001 the business of Office National, formerly known as C. and E. Ironmonger, one of the oldest businesses in the area, was gutted by fire when its premises in Mann St, Gosford were destroyed.

With basic service record of E.H.Ironmonger.

See also Lot 179.