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[British Military/Victoria Cross] 13 items (12 signed, mostly cut signatures). Last 10 listed accompanied by a book or magazine illustration (several from Vanity Fair). Book illustrations mostly 4to/folio. Mostly very good to near fine. ++ 1 leaf from an autograph book, carrying 6 cut signatures from British defenders of Kars during the Crimean War, June-Nov. 1855: Major-General Sir Christopher Charles Teesdale (1833-93, awarded Victoria Cross in 1857); Colonel Sir Henry Lake (1808-91, Royal Engineers); Humphrey Sandwith (1822-81), Army doctor; Henry L. Thompson (1829-56), Major in the Turkish Army; General Sir William Fenwick Williams (“W W Williams,” 1800-83); and Henry H. Churchill (1828-86), secretary and interpreter. Williams surrendered Kars to the Russian Army in November 1855, and was taken prisoner. He returned to England in 1856 and was created a baronet “of Kars.” ++ John Edmund Commerell (Admiral). ALS, dated “April 25/ 1900.” Glued to underside of orig envelope. ++ Lord Gifford. Cut signature. Foxed. ++ Sir H. Evelyn Wood (Oct. 3, 1915), Victoria Cross winner. Brief TLS about transferring the opening sentences of his book to the Preface. ++ Gen. John C. McNeill. ANS. ++ Gen. Hugh Gough. ALS (1 sentence, Apr. 18, 1900, stationery of St. Thomas’ Tower at the Tower of London). W/ orig envelope. Gough fought in Abyssinia, the Afghan campaign, etc. Awarded a Victoria Cross, ca. 1881. Keeper of the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London beginning in 1898. ALS is foxed, ALS and envelope mounted to what had been a scrapbook leaf. Illustration marginally dampstained. ++ Lt.-Gen. Walter Congreve. Signature on a slip of paper. ++ Gen. Sir Sam Browne. ALS. Minor stains to letter. ++ Gen. Henry Havelock Allan, Victoria Cross awardee. Cut signature. Havelock Allan received the Victoria Cross for his role at Lucknow in the Sepoy Rebellion. ++ Col. William Beresford. Signature card, dated “May 23d 1895.” Received the Victoria Cross in 1879, for his role in the Zulu War. ++ Major General Gerald Graham. Cut signature. Awarded the VC for his role in the Crimean War in 1855. ++ Admiral Arthur Knyvet Wilson. Cut signature. Dated “23d Nov. 09.” Earned the VC at the Battle of Teb. ++ Facsimile of a Victoria Cross. Blue ribbon, similar to those awarded to Naval recipients until 1918.
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