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Picture courtesy of Spink

QSA (4) Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901 (Capt. W. A. Nicholson, 69/B., R.F.A.).

Walter Adams Nicholson was born at Cork, Ireland on 28 September 1869, the son of James and Emily Nicholson. He educated at Shrewsbury School followed by the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant on 27 July 1888. Further advanced Lieutenant on 27 July 1891 he was appointed Adjutant of the 3rd Kent Volunteer Artillery on 9 March 1896.

Transferring to the 69th Battery, Royal Field Artillery he was advanced Captain with them on 17 February 1899. Serving from 1901 Nicholson took part in Operations in Transvaal and the Orange River Country. Notably he was present in Cape Colony from March 1901, the 69th Battery had two guns present at Fort Itala during the Battle of Itala on 26 September. Nicholson left Cape Colony in October; he was later further advanced Major on 13 July 1903.

Seeing further service after the war he served in Egypt and India before retiring on 28 September 1909 only to return to the colours on the outbreak of the Great War. Entering the war in France on 26 August 1915 he was advanced Lieutenant-Colonel and given command of a Brigade being 'mentioned' for his services (London Gazette 4 January 1917, refers).

Whilst serving in this role Nicholson went into action at the Battle of Passchendaele, he was killed in action on 4 September 1917 by a bomb dropped from an aeroplane. He was buried at Locre Hospice Cemetery.

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

DCM GV (34447 A. Mmbr: J. Archbold. 97/Bty. R.F.A.);
QSA (3) Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (34447 Gnr: J. Archbold, 17th. Bty: R.F.A.);
KSA (2) (34447 Bomb: J. Archbold. R.F.A.);
[ 1914 Star and clasp trio ]

DCM London Gazette 16 November 1915: ‘For conspicuous gallantry on 27 June 1915, at Cape Helles (Dardanelles), when he went out under severe fire and brought in two wounded men from in front of an observing station. Again, on 14 July, he advanced beyond our lines at night, and brought in a wounded man under very heavy rifle fire. Bombardier Archbold on many previous occasions had displayed great resource and bravery in repairing telephone wires under shell and rifle fire.’

MID London Gazette 5 November 1915

John Archbold was born in Darlington, County Durham, in 1871 and attested for the Royal Field Artillery there on 6 April 1889. He served with the 17th Battery in South Africa during the Boer War from 25 January 1900 to 22 October 1902, and subsequently with the 44th Battery during the Great War on the Western Front from 16 August to 30 September 1914, being repatriated home after suffering a shell wound to his left side on 26 September 1914. He saw further service with the 97th Battery as part of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force from 20 Mach 1915 to 19 November 1917, again being repatriated home having suffered a severe gun shot wound to his right leg and side in October 1917, and was Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. He was discharged on 24 February 1919, after 19 years and 325 days’ service.

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (5) Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Wittebergen (71205 Dvr: W. Hatton, R.H.A.,);
KSA (2) (71205 Dvr: W. Hatton. R.H.A.);
1914-15 Star (3033 Pte. W. Hatton, Manch. R.);
British War and Victory Medals (3033 Pte. W. Hatton. Manch. R.)

William Hatton was born at Stalybridge, Lancashire, in 1871, and attested for the Royal Horse Artillery at Lancaster on 23 February 1889, having previously served in the 4th (Militia) Battalion, Royal Lancaster Regiment. He served with them in South Africa during the Boer War from 3 November 1899 to 26 February 1902. He was discharged on 26 March 1902, after 18 years and 32 days’ service. He saw further service with the Manchester Regiment during the Great War on the Western Front from 5 December 1914, before transferring to the Labour Corps, and was discharged, Class ‘Z’, on 18 February 1919.

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Egypt (1) Tel-El-Kebir (Lieut: C. E. H. Heyman. A/1....);
QSA (1) Cape Colony (Major C. E. H. Heyman. R.A.);
KSA (2) (Major C. E. H. Heyman. R.G.A.);
Khedive's Star, dated 1882

MID London Gazette 10 September 1901.

Charles Edward Hamilton Heyman was appointed Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in June 1877, seeing action not long later at the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir in 1882. Further advanced Captain in December 1885 he was appointed a Military Instructor at Woolwich in 1888. Promoted Major in May 1895 he served in South Africa during the Anglo Boer War as a Staff Officer with responsibility for Prisoners of War. It was for this latter duty that he was mentioned.

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Egypt (0) (33729 Driv: W. Bell. 2/1. So: Ir: Div: R.A.;
QSA (4) Defence of Ladysmith, Orange Free State, Laing’s Nek, Belfast (33729 Sgt. W. Bell, 10th M.B., R.G.A.);
KSA (2) (33729 Serjt. W. Bell, R.G.A.);
Army LS&GC GV GV (33729 Sjt. W. Bell. R.H.A.) official correction to unit;
Army MSM GV (Sjt. W. Bell. R.A.);
Khedive’s Star 1884-6, unnamed

William Bell was born at Brighton, Sussex in 1853 and attested on 17 July 1882. Joining the 2/1st South Irish Division he saw service with them in Egypt and was posted to 10th Mountain Battery on 1 July 1889. Joining this unit in South Africa before the Anglo-Boer War he was advanced Sergeant there on 18 January 1896.

He was still present in Natal on the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War. As the war got underway the British withdrew their forces back towards Ladysmith with the Boer's in hot pursuit. General White decided to try and halt the Boer advance before they reached the town with a daring night march which would take them to positions above the Boer's allowing them a dawn assault. The British had three main targets, Farquhar's Farm, Pepworth Hill and- the farthest position- Nicholson's Nek.

The 10th Mountain Battery was part of Colonel Carleton's column aimed at Nicholson's Nek, supported by an enormous mule train carrying their weapons and ammunition. At some stage during the march a loud noise startled the mules and they stampeded, carrying all the equipment and some of the gunners off.

Carleton continued his march and made the Nek however in the dark his men set up in the wrong place. When dawn came they found themselves on a plateau overlooked by a number of Boer positions and worse yet, without much of their artillery. Swiftly surrounded by the Boer commandos large numbers of the British were taken prisoner. Around 80 men managed to escape, including Bell, but 29 officers, 898 men and 4 Mountain Guns were taken.

Bell's service papers note a wound to the fingers of his right hand however no date is given to confirm that it occurred during his escape from the trap of Nicholson's Nek. He served throughout the Defence of Ladysmith and for the rest of the war, being posted to 107th Company, Royal Garrison Artillery in 1903. Discharged later that same year he returned to service at Southampton on 2 September 1914.

Serving with a reserve Brigade of the Royal Garrison Artillery he was discharged in July 1918 having earned no medals for his efforts

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KCVO nr 543;
KB HM 1933;
CBE 1st, military; reverse contemporarily engraved 'Liet Colonel Cecil B. Levita 1919';
The Order of St John of Jerusalem n/b;
BSACM Rhodesia 1896 (0) (Lieut. C. B. Levita, R.A.);
QSA (3) Cape Colony, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith (Major C. B. Levita, M.V.O., R.F.A.);
Jubilee 1897, silver (Lieut. C. B. Levita, R.H.A.);
France, Third Republic, Legion of Honour, Commander’s n/b

Spink say one of only 2 BSACMs for Rhodesia issued to the Royal Artillery.

KCVO London Gazette 1 January 1932.

KB London Gazette 1 March 1929.

CBE London Gazette 3 June 1919.

O St J London Gazette 24 June 1930.

Cecil Bingham Levita was born in Manchester on 18 January 1867, the son of Emile and Catherine Levita. He came from a prestigious family of Jewish bankers and scholars related to Elijah Levita, author of Bovo-Bukh. Levita's father was a German-born Banker who emigrated to Manchester whose remarkable career saw him become Director of The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, later the Standard Chartered Bank. His mother was the relative of Admiral James Plumridge and was herself a member of the Ree family, a Danish-Jewish family who had created an important shipping business in Denmark.

Service in Africa and Queen Victoria's Funeral

The young Levita studied at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and was commissioned Lieutenant on 24 July 1886. Serving in the Matabele conflict in 1896 with that rank, he was one of only two members of the Royal Artillery to be entitled to the Rhodesia 1896 reverse medal for that war.

Levita was later appointed to the Staff of Lieutenant-General Sir Baker Russell as an Aide-de-Camp and Special Service Officer. In this position he was part of the Relief of Ladysmith, including action at Colenso, the operations of 17-24 January 1900, and engagement at Spion Kop, as well as the actions of 5-7 February 1900, the engagement at Vaal Krantz, fighting on the Tugela Heights, and the action at Pieter's Hill. Levita was appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant General for the 5th Division, Natal Field Force and was 'mentioned' for his work in this role (London Gazette 8 February 1901 refers).

Promoted to Captain on 1 November 1900 and given command of 'N' Battery Royal Horse Artillery, he was an officer commanding the Royal Horse Artillery at the funeral of Queen Victoria. We know the details of this last service due to a letter he wrote to The Times in 1936. Levita mentions posting his battery to the Long Walk for the 81-gun salute and preparing the carriage for the procession, however a disaster occurred at the final moment, his states:

'When the Royal coffin, weighing about 9cwt., had been placed on the carriage, drums began muffled rolls, which reverberated under the station roof, and the cortege started. Actually, when the horses took the weight, the eyelet hole on the splinter bar, to which the off-wheel trace was hooked, broke. The point of the trace struck the wheeler with some violence inside the hock, and naturally the horse plunged. A very short time would have been required to improvise an attachment to the gun-carriage. However, when the wheelers were unhooked the naval detachment promptly and gallantly seized drag ropes and started off with the load. The "gun-carriage" had been specially provided from Woolwich and was fitted with rubber tyres and other gadgets. This was due to Queen Victoria's instructions after seeing a veritable gun-carriage in use at the Duke of Albany's funeral, as also was the prohibition of the use of black horses. On February 4, in compliance with the command of King Edward, I conveyed the royal coffin, on another carriage, from Windsor to the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore by means of the same detachment of men and horses. I may add that a few days later King Edward told me that no blame for the contretemps attached to the Royal Horse Artillery by reason of the faulty material that had been supplied to them.'

The Great War

Appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order for his service during the funeral Levita was further promoted Major on 5 January 1902. He remained in service for some time but retired in October 1909, standing for Parliament the next year for St. Ives, Cornwall in 1910 but was unsuccessful. The next year, however, he was successfully elected to the London County Council as a Municipal Reformer, later returning to military service with the Reserve of Officers on the outbreak of the Great War. Appointed an embarkation officer in 1914 he was later transferred to become General Staff Officer Grade III on 22 February 1915.

Levita was advanced GSO Grade II on 22 September 1915 and the next month Grade I on 22 October. Promoted Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel on 1 March 1917, his MIC makes no note of any medals being issued for this service. However, it does state that he was serving at 'Port: No 1 Southampton'. After the end of the war Levita was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire as a reward for his services.

Politics, Libel and a Talking Mongoose

Levita once again returned to politics, being appointed Deputy Lieutenant of the County of London and a J.P. in 1924, a role he would hold for some years. Later sitting as chairman on the housing committee and later as chairman of the London County Council from 1928-1929, his appointment as a Knight Batchelor derived from this role. The award of the French Legion of Honour also followed in 1929. One of his main areas of interest was the idea of film being used for educational uses, he was also the driving force behind the foundation of the King George Hospital, Ilford, this last being the reason for his advancement to the K.C.V.O.

His interest in film proved to be his downfall however due to a forthright statement made in 1936 about Richard Stanton Lambert, who was working alongside Levita's wife in the British Film Institute. Lambert was the founding editor of The Listener, published by the B.B.C. and an influential man in the world of British broadcasting. Over a lunch with the Assistant Controller of Programmes at the B.B.C., William Murray, Levita stated that he believed Lambert had been influenced by the Dalby Farmhouse haunting.

The haunting was a sensation at the time, a family claimed to be visited by a talking mongoose which claimed to be eighty years old, named Gef and originally born in Delhi. It was investigated by a number of sceptics and alleged paranormal experts to little gain, one of these was Harry Price. Levita asserted that Lambert had fallen under Price's influence, believed in the existence of Gef and had three times moved house to avoid the 'evil eye'.

Lambert discovered the claim and sued Levita, successfully, being awarded damages of £7,500 plus costs, a substantial sum at the time. It is unclear what caused Levita to make the claim however there is a suggestion that his wife had clashed with Lambert over the appointment of people to the British Film Institute who viewed film as commercial rather than educational. The Dalby Farmhouse haunting has been the subject of a recent film in 2023, starring Simon Pegg.

Lavita died on 10 October 1953, notably his niece, Enid, married Ewan Cameron, and is the grandmother of the former Prime Minister, David Cameron.



Sold together with a substantial amount of copied research and an archive of original material including:

i)
Documents of issue for the Legion of Honour, O. St. J., C.B.E. and the recipient's initial appointment to the M.V.O.

ii)
An appointment on vellum confirming the recipient in the position of Deputy Lieutenant.

iii)
The recipient's initial document of Commission in the Royal Horse Artillery.

iv)
A portrait photograph of the recipient in uniform and a group photograph of the recipient with several fellow officers at Aldershot.

v)
A silver presentation trowel, hallmarked London 1927, with ivory handle, inscribed 'This trowel was used by Lieut-Colonel Sir Cecil B. Levita C.B.E., M.V.O., D.L., J.P., L.C.C. when laying a foundation Stone of the King George Hospital, Ilford on the 5th July, 1930.'.