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Picture courtesy of Noonan's

DCM Ed VII (1st Cl: Supt: Ofcr: C. W. Baker. St John Amb: Bde:);
QSA (3) Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (Sgt. Major C. W. Baker, Langman Hospital) officially re-impressed as typically found on QSAs issued to this unit;
Jubilee 1897, St. John Ambulance Brigade (Supt. Cecil W. Baker);
SJAB Medal (555. Sergt. C. W. Baker. Met: Corps.)

DCM London Gazette 31 October 2002; and London Gazette 24 February 1903 (correction from ‘Superintendent’ to ‘Supernumerary’).

One of only five DCMs awarded to civilians in the Boer War: two Engine Drivers and one Fireman of the Imperial Military Railway, and two to the St John Ambulance Brigade, both of Langman’s Hospital (Recipients of the DCM by P. E. Abbott refers).

Cecil W. Baker is confirmed on the roll of the Langman Hospital, which lists 58 names but this figure includes 12 nursing sisters who received the medal under the auspices of the R.A.M.C.

Established by Mr. John Langman, this private hospital opened its tented wards for the first time in April 1900, on the cricket ground at Bloemfontein, where, a few days later, it was inspected by Lord Roberts, V.C., who said of it in a telegram to Langman back in London, that its ‘value to our R.A.M.C. and wounded cannot be overestimated’. Indeed, under the efficient command of Langman’s son, Archibald, actually a Lieutenant in the Middlesex Yeomanry, the hospital eventually treated 1211 cases, latterly at a new location in Pretoria. Of these patients, 278 returned to duty, 875 were transferred to other hospitals and 58 died.
Among the handful of Surgeons employed on the 45-strong staff, 18 of whom were from the St. John Ambulance Brigade, was Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle, M.D., he of Sherlock Holmes fame, who had, from the outset, been invited by John Langman to assist in the selection of suitable personnel - it is not without interest therefore that Corporal Weston Burt was, like Conan Doyle, a resident of Southsea, a fact that suggests they may well have been local friends. Be that as it may, both men would certainly have shared in the horrific scenes caused by ever-growing numbers of enteric victims, the famous author being compelled to write:
‘Our hospital was no worse off than the others, and as there were many of them the general condition of the town [Bloemfontein] was very bad. Coffins were out of the question, and the men were lowered in their brown blankets into shallow graves at the average of sixty a day. A sickening smell came from the stricken town. Once when I had ridden out to get an hour or two of change, and was at least six miles from the town, the wind changed and the smell was all around me. You could smell Bloemfontein long before you could see it. Even now if I felt that lowly death smell compounded of disease and disinfectants my heart would sink within me.’
The Hospital was eventually given as a free gift by John Langman to the Government in November 1900, complete with all its equipment, tentage and supplies - he was created a Baronet in 1906, while his son, Archibald, received prompter reward by way of a CMG in 1902. Conan Doyle, too, was among the ex-Langman staff honoured, receiving a knighthood, although he later claimed this was in response to the publication of his pamphlet, The War in South Africa: Its Cause and Conduct.

The group of four to C W BAker, SJAb, sold for a hammer price of GBP 3,600. Total GBP 4,637. R 111,140. AUD 9,290. NZD 10,010. CAD 8,140. USD 5,880. EUR 5,160.

Picture courtesy of Spink

DCM Ed VII (1373 Pte. A. Curdie. R. Scots Fus:);
QSA (4) Cape Colony, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal (1373 Pte. A. Curdie, 2: R. Scots Fus:);
KSA (2) (1373 Pte. J. Curdie. Rl: Scots Fus:);
[ 1914-15 Star trio ].

DCM London Gazette 31 October 1902.

Abraham Curdie was born in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire in 1866 and attested for the Royal Scots Fusiliers at Ayr on 28 December 1885. Joining the Regiment in India in December 1888, he served there until January 1894 before transferring to the Army Reserve. Curdie was employed with Stewart and Menzies, Clyde Tube Works after leaving the service. Returning to the Colours after the outbreak of the Boer War on 6 December 1899, Curdie joined the Regiment in South Africa on 21 December 1899 until 5 September 1902.

After having been called up, Curdie's co-workers sent him a parcel of clothes and other necessities as well as a poem, repeated in the Coatbridge Express on 7 February 1900:

'Frae the Monklands tae the Transvaal, is a distant cry auld freen,
Yet our thoughts are with you, Aby, aye; each soldier of the Queen,
Each lion-hearted Briton, who for freedom fact eh foe,
May they be like Bruce and Wallce, lay the base oppressors low.

The cause if just in which you fight, 'tis liberty you claim,
'Tis not for selfish motives, it's old Kruger that's to blame,
Then let the crafty tyrant Boers bear Briton's battle cry,
Her gallant sons will fear no foe, they'll conquer or they'll die.

We are watching with patriot pride, at times with aching heart,

Of our brave and noble soldiers, who have acted well their part,
We mourn for those who fought and bled, whose life-blood stains the veldt,
Brave Wauchope and his highlanders, each gallant Northern Celt,
Your fighting 'gainst a motley squad,
Strike for what's right, auld freen,
No craven-hearted coward's blow,
From a soldier of the Queen.'

Discharged on 13 September 1902 Curdie again re-attested for service after the outbreak of the Great War on 12 December 1914. Posted to the Royal Scots Fusiliers he joined 2nd Battalion and entered the war in France on 19 January 1915, serving there until 2 March 1919. Curdie transferred to the Class Reserve on 1 April 1919 for the final time; sold together with copied research.