Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

The DSO and King's Police Medal group to Lieutenant Colonel William Henry Wyndham Murphy DSO, Leinster Regiment, London Regiment and Zanzibar Police: Distinguished Service Order, George V, light scuffing to enamel and wear to gilding; King's Police Medal, George V 1st type (LT - COL. WILLIAM H.W. MURPHY, D.S.O., COMMDT. ZANZIBAR POLICE.), engraved in serif capitals; Queen's South Africa Medal, 2nd reverse, 6 clasps: Cape Colony, Transvaal, Wittebergen, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith, Laing's Nek (Lieut. W.H. MURPHY. Leins. Rgt.), engraved; King's South Africa Medal, 2 dated clasps (LIEUT: W.H. MURPHY. LEINSTER REGT), impressed in plain capitals; 1914-15 Star (unnamed); British War Medal 1914-20 and Victory Medal with oak leaf emblem (LT. COL. W. H. MURPHY.); Territorial Decoration, George V; mounted for wearing, all about very fine or nearly so, ribbons worn and frail in places, mounting with loose elements [8]; together with an associated photograph and an associated watercolour of an officer of the Leinster Regiment.

The Paul Morrissey Collection

D.S.O. L.G.: 18/02/1918 & 18/07/1918

K.P.M. L.G.: 31/12/1927

Lt. Col. Murphy was first commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the Leinster Regiment on the 19th May 1900, having previously served as a Lance Sergeant in Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry. He was promoted Lieutenant 22nd March 1902, and by 1909 was in the Reserve of Officers and employed in the Bechuanaland Protectorate Police. He served in the Great War with the 18th Battalion the London Regiment, earning the D.S.O. as a Major, and ending the war as a Lieutenant Colonel. His Territorial Decoration was gazetted on the 27th May 1919. He returned to colonial service after the war - his Medal Index Card giving his address as C/O Tanganyika Administration Darussalam. He was awarded the King's Police Medal in 1927.

The deeds for which Murphy was awarded the D.S.O. took place in the Bourlon Salient in November and December 1917, during the Battle of Cambrai; at which time he was in command of his regiment, having taken over in April when Lt. Col D.B. Parry D.S.O. was admitted to hospital sick:

"..he reconnoitered the whole of the position and was continually in the front line...on the occasion of an attack he successfully led his battalion at very short notice and in darkness. Later, he directed the withdrawal with remarkable skill, and on another occasion, when the outpost line held by his battalion was was attacked in large force.....he re-established the line of posts....maintaining them until relieved. He displayed magnificent courage, leadership and ability..."

The recommendation for his King's Police Medal states that he "Successfully reorganised the force and made it efficient [and] was instrumental in breaking up dacoity gangs which had persisted for many years"