First World War posthumous Victoria Cross awarded to Lieutenant-Commander Edgar Christopher Cookson of the Royal Navy, sold with his DSO at Noonans for £220,000.
As our exclusive annual special report revealed (see ATG No 2630), Mayfair auction house Noonans was the powerhouse of the London coins and medals auction market in 2023.
While its most significant gains were made in coins and banknotes, the firm’s orders, decorations, medals and militaria sales deliver steady contributions to overall results.
'Cavalry charge on water'
First World War posthumous Victoria Cross awarded to Lieutenant-Commander Edgar Christopher Cookson of the Royal Navy (pictured), sold with his DSO at Noonans for £220,000.
The latest offering on March 13 included a First World War posthumous Victoria Cross awarded to Lieutenant-Commander Edgar Christopher Cookson of the Royal Navy who was killed while leading a ‘cavalry charge on water’ in 1915.
The VC, which was estimated at £180,000-220,000, was awarded during the operations involving the Tigris Flotilla where Cookson paid the ultimate price for his gallantry in the river gunboat Comet when, under a storm of point-blank fire, he leapt aboard a Turkish sailing vessel or dhow brandishing an axe – a fellow officer later observed “there were more bullet holes in him than they cared to count.”
Sold with a group of Cookson’s medals including a Distinguished Service Order (awarded when he was severely wounded when extricating the armed launch Shushan out of an Arab ambush in May 1915), it was bought by a private collector on the top estimate.
The medals were consigned by a private collector. Mark Quayle, medal specialist and associate director of Noonans, said: “The rarity of the award, and the repeated acts of gallantry, are all reflected in the price achieved on the day.”
Cookson’s DSO was sent to his mother in September 1915 and she received his VC from the King at Buckingham Palace on November 29, 1916 (she was his only immediate relative since he was unmarried and his father had died). Cookson was buried in Amara War Cemetery but the grave was subsequently destroyed, and his name is now listed on the cemetery wall.
The medals were sold at Sotheby’s, January 1977, when consigned by Cookson’s direct descendants.
Late last year at Noonans the Naval VC awarded to Seaman James Gorman at Inkerman in the Crimean War hammered for £320,000.
Airborne pioneer
Second World War group of 12 awarded to Brigadier Sir Mark ‘Honker’ Henniker, £100,000 at Noonans.
Another six-figure result came in Noonans’ February 14 auction when the group of 12 awarded to Brigadier Sir Mark ‘Honker’ Henniker of the Royal Engineers was estimated at £60,000-80,000.
It sold for £100,000 hammer to a private collector, reflecting the appeal of this extraordinary character. Few military leaders can have been as personally involved in so many heroic wartime missions as the man whose honours included a CBE, DSO and MC.
In autumn 1941 Henniker became one of the founder members, and part of the skeleton Divisional Staff, of the fledgling 1st Airborne Division. Earlier, he had escaped with his men from the beaches of Dunkirk in a rowing boat.
Henniker counted the famous Bruneval Raid of February 1942 among the daring missions he helped plan, as well as the attempted destruction of the Heavy Water Production Plant at Telemark, Norway, in November that year – as the first Chief Royal Engineer, 1st Airborne Division, ‘Honker’ was integral to those missions.
He helped to plan the airborne element of the invasion of Sicily, taking part in the landings of Operation Husky himself, flying in by glider as part of HQ 1st Airlanding Brigade, in July 1943. Despite being wounded by shrapnel and breaking his arm, the unit Henniker was with captured an Italian Coastal Battery and took over 90 Prisoners of War.
Second World War group of 12 awarded to Brigadier Sir Mark ‘Honker’ Henniker (shown here), £100,000 at Noonans.
Henniker went on to take a prominent part in the seaborne landings at Taranto but the pinnacle of his career was when serving as CRE, 43rd (Wessex Division) during Operation Market Garden in 1944.
He was responsible for the planning and execution of Operation Berlin on September 25-26, the night-time evacuation of the remnants of the beleaguered 1st Airborne Division under Roy Urquhart; trapped in German-occupied territory north of the Lower Rhine and just west of Arnhem. Henniker was made an immediate award of the DSO.
Harbour raid
Medals belonging to Welshman Acting Sergeant Ronald George ‘Taffy’ Morris of the Royal Army Medical Corps who served in Operation Jaywick, £120,000 at Noonans.
Meanwhile, the January 17 auction included a ‘secret’ medal awarded for one of the greatest raids of the Second World War: Operation Jaywick in 1943 when Australian Commandos raided Japanese-occupied Singapore Harbour in a vessel disguised as an Asian fishing boat.
Only two British men took part. The medals belonging to Welshman Acting Sergeant, later Major Ronald George ‘Taffy’ Morris of the Royal Army Medical Corps who was attached to the Special Operations Executive (SOE) were expected to fetch £60,000-80,000 but sold for £120,000 hammer to a UK private collector of gallantry medals.
The collection was being sold by the recipient’s son who has recently written a book about his father’s exploits.
Christopher Mellor-Hill of Noonans said: “Very few people are aware of Operation Jaywick which was one of the greatest SOE ‘Clandestine’ Commando raids of the war in the Far East.
“It was a great success but always kept secret along with Morris’ gallantry award but hopefully his full story and that of Operation Jaywick as told by his son in his new book The Tiger’s Revenge will ensure that their amazingly dangerous and brave but successful commando raid is now more widely appreciated.”
Medals belonging to Welshman Acting Sergeant Ronald George ‘Taffy’ Morris of the Royal Army Medical Corps (shown here) who served in Operation Jaywick, £120,000 at Noonans.
After the operation Morris was honoured with a ‘secret’ Military Medal for his gallantry and distinguished service as Medical Orderly in the MV Krait during her 48-day, 4000-mile round trip for the raid, which resulted in the sinking and destruction of seven enemy ships totalling 37,000 tons – the deepest surface waterborne penetration behind enemy lines undertaken by special forces in the Second World War.
Morris was not the only one to be presented with the MM after the raid – Corporal Crilly, the ship’s cook, was given one too. Morris’ MM was approved by the king on May 17, 1944, on the Secret List, with the instruction that it was not to be published in the London Gazette until it had been taken off the Secret List.
Aussie honoured
Noonans sold another Operation Jaywick honour in December 2020 (when the firm was known as Dix Noonan Webb), awarded to Lt Hubert (Ted) Carse of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve.
He was skipper and navigator of the MV Krait during Operation Jaywick. His medal group including a 1 Commando Association Cross of Valour, bronze, one clasp for Jaywick, with integral top Commando bar, was estimated at £20,000-40,000, along with Carse’s knuckle knife and a Japanese flag said to have been displayed aboard the Krait during the operation.
The group sold for £38,000. See ATG No 2472 for the full story.
