A Great War D.S.O. Group of Five to Lieutenant-Colonel C.V. Bellamy, Royal Engineers, Late Southern Nigeria Volunteers, Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel; 1914-15 Star (Major, R.E.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oakleaf (Lt. Col.); Colonial Auxiliary Forces Decoration, G.V.R., silver, silver-gilt (Hallmarks for London, 1911), the reverse engraved, 'Major C.V. Bellamy, Southern Nigeria Volunteers, 1913', extremely fine, mounted Court-style as worn (5)

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A Great War D.S.O. Group of Five to Lieutenant-Colonel C.V. Bellamy, Royal Engineers, Late Southern Nigeria Volunteers, Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel; 1914-15 Star (Major, R.E.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oakleaf (Lt. Col.); Colonial Auxiliary Forces Decoration, G.V.R., silver, silver-gilt (Hallmarks for London, 1911), the reverse engraved, 'Major C.V. Bellamy, Southern Nigeria Volunteers, 1913', extremely fine, mounted Court-style as worn (5)

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

D.S.O. London Gazette 4.6.1917.

Mention in Despatches London Gazettes 4.1.1917 and 18.5.1917.

Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Vincent Bellamy, D.S.O., was born in April 1867 and educated at Plymouth College. Gaining his first stint of military service as a Subaltern in the Volunteer Battalion of the Devonshires, he afterwards travelled to Ceylon and Africa, and was a Lieutenant in the Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers between 1889-95 and appointed a Captain in the Southern Nigeria Volunteers in 1907. Advanced in the latter unit to Major in 1909, he was awarded his Volunteer Decoration in 1913.

Mobilised as a Major from the Territorial Force Reserve in August 1914, Bellamy joined the Royal Engineers and was present in the Gallipoli operations from mid-October 1915. Afterwards employed in Egypt, he was posted to the Western Front in 1916 and advanced to Lieutenant-Colonel in the following year. Sometime wounded, and awarded the D.S.O., he was also twice Mentioned in Despatches. He retired after a brief tour of duty with the Army on the Rhine at the end of 1919.