Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

The M.B.E., M.M. and M.S.M. group of ten to Sergeant Albert Edward Gardner, East Surrey Regiment and Hampshire Regiment: The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Civil Division, Member's breast badge (M.B.E.), Garrard, London 1933; Military Medal, George V (19857 SJT A. E. GARDNER. 4/HANTS: R.); Queen's South Africa Medal, second type, 3 clasps: Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (6409 PTE A. GARDNER. E. SURREY REGT); 1914 Star with tailor's copy clasp (L-6409 L. SGT A. E. GARDNER 1/E. SURR: R.); British War Medal 1914-20 and Victory Medal with M.I.D. emblem (6409 SJT. A. E. GARDNER. E. SURR. R.); Africa General Service Medal 1899-1956, George V, clasp: Somaliland 1920 (L-13952 W.O. CL. 11. A. E. GARDNER. E. SURR. R.); Defence Medal, unnamed as issued; Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, George V (6134101 SJT. A. E. GARDNER M.M. E. SURR. R.); Meritorious Service Medal, George VI, Fid. Def. (6134101 SJT. A. GARDNER. (M.M.). SURREYS.); mounted for wearing, very fine and better, the MSM with official alteration to the service number, [10]; together with this man's Certificate of Service (Form B 108), and other contemporary documents.

Albert Gardner enlisted in the East Surrey Regiment in April 1900 and served with 2nd Battalion in the Second Anglo-Boer War. He entered France with the 1st Battalion on the 16th of August 1914, and transferred to the Hampshire Regiment in September 1915. Initially posted to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, he was awarded the Military Medal (London Gazette 14/05/1919) for service in the 4th Battalion. In 1919 he was seconded to the Somaliland Camel Corps, King's African Rifles and took part in Major (T. Colonel) G.H. Summers's expedition of January-February 1920 against Muhammed bin Abdullah. He was mentioned in despatches in connection with this service, and by his own account, he took command of a company after all its officers had succumbed to fatigue. He received a further mention in 1922 following the murder of District Commissioner Allan Gibbs, D.S.O., D.S.M., during the Burao Tax riot. According to Gardner, he was given the hazardous task of taking Gibbs's body to Upper Sheik for burial amid ongoing unrest. He remained in service in Somaliland until 1934, rising to R.Q.M.S. in the S.C.C. and then taking the post of Transport Officer in the Somaliland Police. He was awarded the L.S.G.C. Medal on the 29th of July 1925, and, following his retirement, he was recommended for the M.B.E. for his service in the Somaliland Protectorate. His M.S.M. was also for service in Somaliland, and though the recommendation was made in 1928, the award was at the time contingent upon a vacancy in the list of annuitants. Gardner was still enquiring after his M.S.M. as late as 1943, with the medal apparently not materialising until after 1949. During the Second World War he served in the Colonial Office and Dominions Office Company of the Home Guard, wherein he gave instruction in the use of small arms.