Medals of pioneer trenches medic on sale
THE gallantry medals of a First World War surgeon who requested to be positioned closer to the front line so he could save more lives are up for grabs.
Colonel Owen Richards pioneered groundbreaking surgery to abdominal wounds and key to this was operating on injured troops as soon as possible.
So he asked that his clearing station be moved several miles nearer to the trenches.
His wish was granted, but he was banned from taking any nurses with him due to the risk of being shelled. The surgeon served at Merville, Bethune and Arras.
His obituary, published in the British Medical Journal after his death in 1949, explained: “Extra equipment and some additional orderlies made the arrangement he suggested possible, and in these circumstances some of his best work was done.”
Now his medals – including the prestigious Distinguished Service Order – are being sold by a private collector through Spink & Son and expected to fetch £2,000.
Col Richards was born in west London in 1873 and went to Eton College before studying physiology at Oxford University.
He spent time in a military hospital in Cairo, Egypt, before joining the Royal Army Medical Corps after fighting began in 1914. After the conflict, Col Richards was made a CMG (Order of St Michael and St George) and became director of a Cairo medical school, earning him the Order of the Nile from the Egyptian Government.
He moved back to England in 1924 and settled in Bideford, north Devon, with his wife and daughter. He died aged 76.
The sale in London is on April 22.