Officers Egypt Medal 1882 - Manchester Regiment Casualty

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Officers Egypt Medal 1882 - Manchester Regiment Casualty:
$515.99

This is an officers Egypt medal, issued without clasp,as was all the 1st Bn. The Manchester Regiment. It is officially & correctly engravednamed as follows:-

LIEUT : R.H. DAWSON.1 / MANCH : R

It is rated as extremely fine and iscomplete with ribbon. Most Egypt medalssuffer from multiple contact marks but this is in superb condition as can beseen from the photographs. This is ex –Spink sales 2007.

Reginald Harry Dawson was born in Brighton on21.1.1862, the eldest son of Maj. General Alexander Harry Dawson, RoyalArtillery, of “Holmdale”, Painswick Rd, Cheltenham. He obtained a scholarship in the JuniorDepartment of Cheltenham College in Jan. 1874 as a day boy. He left for the RoyalMilitary College,Sandhurst in December 1879.

On 21.1.1881 he joined the 63rdFoot as a 2nd Lieutenant, which became later that year the 1stBn. of The Manchester Regt. On 10.3.1881the Bn. sailed on HMS Jumna to India& he was promoted to Lt. on 1.7.1881. On 6.9.1882 the Bn. served in the EgyptianCampaign returning to the UKon 3.11.1882. He was awarded the EgyptMedal without clasp & the Khedives Star 1882. On 3.3.1883 he transferred to the IndianStaff Corps, serving in the 3rd Sikh Infantry. In 1888 he was invalided home & studiedRussian to Interpreter level. He wasalready fluent in French & German.

He returned to India & was promoted Captain in1891. In 1892 he became a wing officerof the newly formed Hong Kong Battalion, composed of Sikh & other Indiantroops & commanded by European Officers.

He was a member of the Hong Kong CricketTeam, who every year since 1866 had played the Interport Cricket match against Shanghai. The team had just lost to Shanghaiat their ground and on 8.10.1892 were returning to Hong Kong on the P&O steam-ship “SS Bokhara”. The 3 mastedsteamer weighed 2948 tons net & was built at Greenockin 1873. On this 3 day, 1600 mile tripit was carrying valuable cargo & 148 persons including 86 crew. It was commanded by an experienced man,Captain Charles Dawson Sams, RNR.

When the ship was off the Formosa Straightsit was hit by a terrible typhoon & during the whole of the 10thwas battered so much that all the lifeboats & deck fittings including thesmoking saloon were washed away. Finallythree giant waves swamped the engine rooms & put out the fires in theboilers. The ship drifted towards thecoast & just before midnight hit a rock off SandIsland (Pescadores Islands)& then crashed into another, ripping away the starboard side. It sunk within 2 minutes in 60 feet ofwater. Captain Dawson was seen at thevery last moments trying on a lifebelt in the below decks saloon. He was killed along with 124 others. 23 were washed ashore & survivedincluding only 2 members of the Hong Long Cricket Team.

A stone obelisk memorial was raised in 1893on Sand Islandwhich is now part of the Taiwanese Armies Firing Range. A pair of stained glass windows werecommissioned by the Shanghai Cricket Club in the south precept of St. John’s Cathedral in Hong Kong. The brass plate in between them read:-

“AMEMORIAL OF THEIR DEEP REGRET FOR THE LOSS OF

MAJORTURNER, A.P.D.

CAPTAINJ. DUNN, A.S.C.

CAPTAINDAWSON, HONG KONG REGIMENT

LIEUTENANTBURNETT, 53rd REGIMENT

LIEUTENANTC.G. BOYLE, R.A.

SERGEANTDONEGAN, 53rd REGIMENT

SERGEANTMUMFORD, 53rd REGIMENT

G.S.PURVIS,Esq.

G.E.TAVERNER, Esq.

MEMBERSOF THE HONG KONG CRICKET TEAM WHO PERISHED IN THE WRECK OF THE P. AND O.STEAMER BOKHARA ON 10TH OCTOBER, 1892 WHILE ON THEIR RETURN VOYAGETO HONG KONG AFTER THE INTERPORT CRICKET MATCH.

THISWINDOW IS ERECTED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE SHANGHAICRICKET CLUB. NO OTHER CATHEDRAL IN THEWORLD CONTAINS A MEMORIAL TO MEMBERS OF A CRICKET TEAM, AND WE TRUST THAT NOOCCASION WILL ARISE FOR ONE TO BE ERECTED”

The window was removed to prevent damage bythe Japanese in WW2 & moved to a place of safety. Unfortunately no-one knows where that was& it remains missing to this day.The mother of Captain Dawson commissioned a pair of stained glasswindows as a memorial to her son in St. Philip & St. James Church,Leckenham, Cheltenham. The inscription underneath reads,

“TOTHE GLORY OF GOD AND IN THE LOVING MEMORY OF

REGINALDHARRY DAWSON, CAPTAIN INDIAN STAFF CORPS,

HONGKONG FORCES, WHO WAS LOST IN A TYPHOON OFF THE PESCADORES IN THE CHINA SEAS,OCT. 10TH 1892, AGED 30.”

Captain Dawson’s body was never found.

Also included are the following copydocuments:

1.Photo of Capt Dawson with the cricket team, London Illustrated News

2.Photo of SS Bokhara

3. Photo of Stained Glass windows

4.Record of Service

5.Manchester Regimental Archives Officers list

6.Army List

7.Various extracts from The Times Newspaper regarding the sinking

8.List of officers on board HMS Juma3.4.1881

9.Birth details

10. Cheltenham College Register

11.Harts Army List 1890

12. India Lists1892 & Casualty List 1893

13. Egypt MedalRoll

14.Khedives Star Medal Roll

All guaranteed original, no copies. Returns are accepted within 14 days if not as class=\"MsoNormal\">