Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry

The 1911 Coronation C.B. group of eleven awarded to Colonel St. G. L. Steele, 2nd Bengal Lancers, Indian ArmyThe Most Honourable Order of the Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s breast badge, silver-gilt and enamels, complete with ribbon buckle; Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, 1 clasp, Tel-El-Kebir (Lieut: St. G. L. Steele. 2nd Bengal Cavy.); India General Service 1854-95, 2 clasps, N.E. Frontier 1891, Waziristan 1894-5 (Capt. St. G. L. Steele S.C.); Queen’s Sudan 1896-98 (Cpt. St. G. L. Steele Cmt. Trnspt Dpt E.A.); India General Service 1895-1902, 2 clasps, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Tirah 1897-98 (Captn. St. G. L. Steele 2d Bl: Lcrs:); China 1900, no clasp (Major St. G. L. Steele 2d Bl. Lcrs.); British War and Victory Medals (Col. St. G. L. Steele.); Delhi Durbar 1911, silver (Colonel St. G. L. Steele, A.Q.M.G., 1st Pesh. Div.) privately named; Khedive’s Star 1882, unnamed as issued; Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, no clasp (Capt. St. G. L. Steele 2d Bl. Lcrs.) the last ten mounted court-style for display, the second with contact pitting from star, good fine, otherwise generally very fine and better (11) £2,000-£2,600---C.B. London Gazette 19 June 1911: ‘On the occasion of His Majesty’s Coronation’.St. George Loftus Steele was born on 31 March 1859, son of Major-General A. Loftus Steele, and was educated at Marlborough College and later the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was commissioned in 1878 and transferred to the Indian Army in 1880. Commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 2nd Bengal Cavalry, he served in Egypt at the action of Kassassin and at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir (Medal and Clasp, Bronze Star). Appointed Captain in the Indian Staff Corps in 1889, he served on the North East Frontier of India in the Manipur Expedition together with Lieutenant C. J. W. Grant, I.S.C., who gained the only V.C. during this campaign. Steele was mentioned in despatches (Medal and Clasp). Still on the frontier following the attack by the Waziris on the Afghan Boundary Delimitation Party, under the command of Lieutenant-General William Lockhart, Steele was again in action gaining the Clasp to his medal.Having been previously promoted to Captain in his regiment, the 2nd Bengal Lancers, Steele found himself once again in the sands of the Sudan on the Dongola Expedition in 1896 with the Commissariat Transport Department of the Egyptian Army (Queen’s Sudan Medal and Egyptian Sudan Medal). He next served on the Tirah Expedition of 1897-98, once again under Lieutenant-General William Lockhart, and was once again mentioned in despatches for his services as a Section Commandant on the Line of Communication (Medal and two Clasps). As a Major he next served with the British Contingent of the China Expeditionary Force 1900-01, being mentioned in despatches for good service in duties connected with the communications (Medal).Promoted to Colonel on 1 June 1907, Steele was subsequently Assistant Quartermaster General to the 1st Peshawur Division and was present during the King’s visit to Delhi for the Durbar in 1911 (Durbar Medal), also receiving the C.B. in the King’s Birthday Honours of that year. In 1914 he held the position of Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General on the Staff of the Indian Army. He was sent on special duty to Canada and U.S.A., 1917-18, and, being fluent in Russian, was sent to Vladivostok in 1918 as Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General. In the following year he was appointed Commissioner for Holland (Russian P.O.W. Camps) with the British Red Cross Society. Colonel Steele retired from the army in 1919 after a military career spanning more than 40 years, much of which was in the Field. He latterly resided at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and died there on 13 July 1936, aged 78.For the recipient’s miniature awards, see Lot 500.------For more information, additional images and to bid on this lot please go to the auctioneers website, www.dnw.co.uk