Lot 789
789
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A Very Early M.V.O. Group of Seven to Captain Mervyn Richard Wingfield, the 8th Viscount Powerscourt, Irish Guards, The Royal Victorian Order, Member's (M.V.O.) Fourth Class, breast Badge, silver with silver, gilt and enamel centre, officially numbered '4' on reverse; 1914-15 Star (Lieut. Viscount, M.V.O., I. Gds.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oakleaf (Captain Viscount); Coronation 1902; Coronation 1911; Belgium, Croix de Guerre 1914-18, the first with slightly chipped enamel, otherwise good very fine or better, mounted as worn, together with related Dress Miniatures and Silver War Badge, and a Coronation 1911, on Lady's bow for wearing (16)

Details
A Very Early M.V.O. Group of Seven to Captain Mervyn Richard Wingfield, the 8th Viscount Powerscourt, Irish Guards, The Royal Victorian Order, Member's (M.V.O.) Fourth Class, breast Badge, silver with silver, gilt and enamel centre, officially numbered '4' on reverse; 1914-15 Star (Lieut. Viscount, M.V.O., I. Gds.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oakleaf (Captain Viscount); Coronation 1902; Coronation 1911; Belgium, Croix de Guerre 1914-18, the first with slightly chipped enamel, otherwise good very fine or better, mounted as worn, together with related Dress Miniatures and Silver War Badge, and a Coronation 1911, on Lady's bow for wearing (16)
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

M.V.O. London Gazette 6.6.1902. On the occasion of the Presentation of Colours to the Irish Guards by H.M. the King.

Captain Mervyn Richard Wingfield, [K.P.], M.V.O., the 8th Viscount Powerscourt, was born in July 1880, appointed a Lieutenant in the newly formed Irish Guards in July 1901, and awarded his M.V.O. on the occasion of the Regiment being presented with its first Colours by King Edward VII at Horse Guards Parade in May 1902, a ceremony that concluded with the Trooping of the Colour. The Viscount, however, relinquished his Commission sometime prior to the Great War, very probably soon after succeeding to his father's title in 1904, and was employed as Comptroller of the Household of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

Rejoining his old Regiment on the outbreak of hostilities, the Viscount was detached for special services in Gallipoli, where he arrived in August 1915, and afterwards held a staff appointment in France and Flanders. Sir Douglas Haig 'Mentioned' him for the period February to September 1917 (London Gazette 11.12.1917 refers).

Having been appointed a Knight of the Order of St. Patrick in April 1916, when just 36 years old, Powerscourt was elected as a Member of the Senate of Southern Ireland in the early 1920s and otherwise busied himself with the running of his property in Enniskerry, County Wicklow, an estate that amounted to a little less than 40,000 acres. The Viscount died in March 1947.