![A Fine Boer War D.S.O. Group of Four to Captain F.R. Ewart, Liverpool Regiment, Distinguished Service Order, V.R., silver-gilt and enamel; Queen's South Africa, five clasps, Defence of Ladysmith, Laing's Nek, Belfast, Cape Colony, Orange Free State [Unofficially riveted] (Capt., L'pool Regt.); King's South Africa, two clasps (Capt., D.S.O., Liverpool Regt.); Royal Humane Society's Medal, small, bronze (Capt., Jany. 29 1906), complete with riband brooch-bar, good very fine and better, together with a Portrait Miniature, the whole contained in a velvet fitted display mount (5)](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2000/SKS/2000_SKS_01264_0493_000(020913).jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
D.S.O. London Gazette 19.4.1901.
Captain Frank Rowland Ewart, D.S.O., was born in January 1874 and was educated at Clifton and the R.M.C. prior to being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Liverpool Regiment in March 1894. Advanced to Lieutenant in July 1898, he served in Halifax, Nova Scotia and in the West Indies, before embarking for South Africa in late 1897.
Subsequently present in operations with the 1st Battalion in Natal, including the actions at Rietfontein and Lombard's Kop, in addition to the siege of Ladysmith, Ewart was afterwards attached to the Mounted Infantry and served in numerous operations in the Transvaal, Cape Colony and the Orange River Colony, including the actions at Belfast, Klerksdorp and Vryburg. Advanced to Captain in March 1901, he was twice Mentioned in Despatches, awarded the D.S.O., the Queen's Medal with five clasps and the King's Medal with two clasps. The latter do not appear to have been issued to him until 1904-05 (WO/100/172 and WO/100/321 refer).
Ewart's D.S.O. more than likely reflected his conduct at two busy engagements in August 1900. The most memorable of these was that fought near Van Wyck's Vlei on 21.8.1900, on which occasion Corporal H.J. Knight, also of the Mounted Infantry, won the Victoria Cross. The London Gazette takes up the story:
'On 21 August 1900, during operations near Van Wyck's Vlei, Corporal Knight and four men were occupying a position behind some rocks, to cover the rear of a detachment of their Company, which, under Captain Ewart, D.S.O., was holding the right of the line. Being attacked on the right by about 50 Boers, Knight's little band of four men were almost surrounded at very close quarters by the enemy. Ordering them to retire one by one to a more sheltered position, he stayed at his post for nearly an hour, covering Captain Ewart's force, during which two of his men were shot. Placing one of them in a secure place he left him there, carrying the other for two miles on his back, the whole time being under a very hot fire from the enemy'.
The second action, fought on 28.8.1900, near Machadodorp, resulted in the Boers being driven from a ridge between their positions and the town, Ewart being slightly wounded in the process.
During the course of 1903 he was seconded for duty under the Colonial Office and appointed to the Lagos Battalion of the West African Frontier Force. It was while employed in this capacity that Ewart won his R.H.S. Medal, on 29.1.1906, when he rescued a native boy from a lagoon at Lagos. Tragically, by the time the R.H.S. Committee had approved his award, the gallant Captain was dead, having succumbed to 'supperative colitis' on 13.6.1906, while en route to England. He was buried at sea.
Captain Frank Rowland Ewart, D.S.O., was born in January 1874 and was educated at Clifton and the R.M.C. prior to being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Liverpool Regiment in March 1894. Advanced to Lieutenant in July 1898, he served in Halifax, Nova Scotia and in the West Indies, before embarking for South Africa in late 1897.
Subsequently present in operations with the 1st Battalion in Natal, including the actions at Rietfontein and Lombard's Kop, in addition to the siege of Ladysmith, Ewart was afterwards attached to the Mounted Infantry and served in numerous operations in the Transvaal, Cape Colony and the Orange River Colony, including the actions at Belfast, Klerksdorp and Vryburg. Advanced to Captain in March 1901, he was twice Mentioned in Despatches, awarded the D.S.O., the Queen's Medal with five clasps and the King's Medal with two clasps. The latter do not appear to have been issued to him until 1904-05 (WO/100/172 and WO/100/321 refer).
Ewart's D.S.O. more than likely reflected his conduct at two busy engagements in August 1900. The most memorable of these was that fought near Van Wyck's Vlei on 21.8.1900, on which occasion Corporal H.J. Knight, also of the Mounted Infantry, won the Victoria Cross. The London Gazette takes up the story:
'On 21 August 1900, during operations near Van Wyck's Vlei, Corporal Knight and four men were occupying a position behind some rocks, to cover the rear of a detachment of their Company, which, under Captain Ewart, D.S.O., was holding the right of the line. Being attacked on the right by about 50 Boers, Knight's little band of four men were almost surrounded at very close quarters by the enemy. Ordering them to retire one by one to a more sheltered position, he stayed at his post for nearly an hour, covering Captain Ewart's force, during which two of his men were shot. Placing one of them in a secure place he left him there, carrying the other for two miles on his back, the whole time being under a very hot fire from the enemy'.
The second action, fought on 28.8.1900, near Machadodorp, resulted in the Boers being driven from a ridge between their positions and the town, Ewart being slightly wounded in the process.
During the course of 1903 he was seconded for duty under the Colonial Office and appointed to the Lagos Battalion of the West African Frontier Force. It was while employed in this capacity that Ewart won his R.H.S. Medal, on 29.1.1906, when he rescued a native boy from a lagoon at Lagos. Tragically, by the time the R.H.S. Committee had approved his award, the gallant Captain was dead, having succumbed to 'supperative colitis' on 13.6.1906, while en route to England. He was buried at sea.