Relief of Chitral, QSA, KSA and WW1 Trio Miniature Medal Group with MID, Named to Lieutenant Arthur Grant Trollope, 13th Baronet Trollope of Casewick, 1st Battalion, The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)

India General Service Medal 1895 with “Relief of Chitral” clasp; Queen’s South Africa with “Orange Free State” and “Cape Colony” clasps; King’s South Africa with “South Africa 1901” and “South Africa 1902” clasps; and 1914–15 Star Trio Miniature Medal Group with MID (entitled to 2)

Named to Lieutenant Arthur Grant Trollope, 13th Baronet Trollope of Casewick

A miniature medal group of six medals with the Mentioned in Despatches emblem, named to Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Arthur Grant Trollope, 13th Baronet Trollope of Casewick, who served with the 1st Battalion, The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), across three campaigns spanning the North-West Frontier of India, the Second Boer War in South Africa, and the First World War.

The group comprises the India Medal 1895–1902 with the Relief of Chitral 1895 clasp; the Queen’s South Africa Medal 1899–1902; the King’s South Africa Medal 1901–02; and the First World War trio of the 1914–15 Star, the British War Medal 1914–20, and the Victory Medal 1914–19 with a Mentioned in Despatches oak leaf. The medals are produced in miniature scale in the appropriate metals throughout, with the group mounted as a miniature bar for wear on mess dress.

Arthur Grant Trollope was born on 10 June 1866, the son of Arthur Trollope of the Casewick branch of the Trollope family of Lincolnshire, a family whose baronetcy had been created on 5 February 1642 for Thomas Trollope during the Civil War. He initially served in the Royal Wiltshire Militia in 1886, aged 19. He was commissioned into The Buffs — the 3rd Regiment of Foot, one of the oldest regiments in the British Army — in 1892 as a Lieutenant and served with the 1st Battalion in India. In 1895, the 1st Battalion formed part of the Third Infantry Brigade of the Chitral Relief Force, commanded by Brigadier General Gatacre, which was dispatched to relieve the beleaguered British garrison at Chitral Fort on the North-West Frontier following its investment by the forces of Umra Khan of Jandol and supporters of Sher Afzul in early March 1895. The Relief Force, under Major General Sir Robert Low, advanced through the Malakand Pass against armed tribal opposition and reached Chitral Fort on 20 April 1895, ending a siege of forty-six days. Trollope’s service in this operation entitled him to the India Medal 1895–1902 with the Relief of Chitral 1895 clasp.

Following his service in India, Trollope served with the Orange Free State Civil Service in South Africa before the outbreak of the Second Boer War in October 1899. He served as a Captain in the South African campaign, qualifying for both the Queen’s South Africa Medal with 2 clasps (“Orange Free State” and “Cape Colony”) and the King’s South Africa Medal with the 2 date clasps and Mentioned in Despatches.

On the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Trollope returned to regimental service and served from 1915, being Mentioned in Despatches on two further occasions during the war — a distinction reflecting sustained conspicuous service over a prolonged period, as each MID required a separate recommendation and gazette notification. He attained the rank of Major, then later lieutenant colonel, during the war and was awarded the full First World War trio of the 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, and Victory Medal. He was demobilised on the 9th of March, 1919.

He succeeded his elder brother as the 13th Baronet Trollope of Casewick on 29 May 1935 and died on 14 February 1937. He was a second cousin once removed of the novelist Anthony Trollope, author of the Barsetshire Chronicles.

This miniature group is produced in the correct metals and ribbons for each medal in the group, with the Mentioned in Despatches emblem. Named miniature groups of this type, assembled for an individual officer for wear on mess dress, provide a compact and complete record of a distinguished military career spanning forty years of active service across three of the British Army’s most significant campaign periods. Miniature medal groups named to identified officers of confirmed biography and documented service record are among the most sought-after categories of British campaign militaria, combining the intrinsic interest of the medals themselves with the directly researchable personal history of their recipient.

Inscribed (on the India General Service)

LIEUT. A. G. TROLLOPE. 1ST BATT. EAST KENT REGT.

Condition

Very good