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Got an answer from the service nobility and orders. Mrs Slock-Cottell was awarded the Knight's Grade in the Order of Leopold II (not the Leopold Order, father and son, completely different medal) as a retired "military nurse" in april 1939. No info on her St-Sava Award.

Hi, Pretty formidable lady by the looks of it eh? 🙂 I know she did hospital work in London during WW I so she would probably have received some awards for that. Queen Elisabeth Medal with Red Cross comes to mind + the WW I commemorative medal and the victory medal. A Knight's grade in the Order of Leopold I would be quite a high and uncommon award for this though. Not sure when or how she would have received that Order. Nothing confirmed. Will see if I can more info.

A lot of foreign awards are granted as a courtesy, very true. However, in this case the Serbian Award was granted in 1936 and she only married the viscount in 1940. She herself was not of nobility, her father a "mere" Belgian doctor and an English mother. So not sure how "big" she was when receiving the award.

Thank you very much BalkanCollector! Was worth the try of course. I doubt indeed that she would have been awarded the Order just because she was Belgian 😀 Yes, that's her.

Thank you very much Chechaco1! Those two words just after her name Slock Hildegarde are probably important as they likely contain a clue of why she was awarded the order. Indeed her position or function perhaps. Anyone who could add? Thanks l4h

Hello Gordon Thank you for the input. That would be a possibility yes, but then it would mean that the award was made very late (1936) if for involvement during the Geat War. I also know that during the Great War she was working in a hospital in London rather then in Serbia. Lets see if someone can read Serbian here on the forum. Cheers

Hello Gents The document attached is for the award of the Order of St-Sava to a Belgian lady in the 1930's. I have not been able yet to establish her connection to Serbia or why she was awarded the medal. Perhaps there's a clue in the document? Could anyone help by translating the relevant details please? Thank you very much for your help! Best regards from Belgium Bit more detail

Hello gents Long-time over due of course but for completeness and if anybody is interested: both from Finnish and Belgian sources I was informed that the man was awarded Commander of the Order of the White Rose of Finland on June 19th 1929. Cheers

Just by way of information: one does not need to look for a special connection between Bavaria and Belgium to interact in railway matters. Prior to WWI Belgium was the 6th economy in the world (26th in 2018) and thé specialist in the field of trains, locomotives and railways. 1st railway on mainland Europe was constructed in Belgium in 1835 and in 1914 there were nearly 4000 locomotives and railway tracks laid from Russia to China and in South-America. There were Belgian engineers working all over the world doing railroad construction. The Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, was founded in 1876 by Belgian engineer Nagelmackers and would operate dozens of regular international train services over Europe. (most famous one being the Oriënt Express).

Thank you 922F for the info!

@Great Dane. That's very interesting. Thank you for the input! I was already wondering what that award might be round his neck. It is not in the medal group I acquired. It certainly does look like the Order of the German Eagle and indeed would fit the time-frame for the award being made as he was in Köln in the mid to late 30's. Will see if I can narrow the date of the photo down. He would not have been wearing this award anymore after 1940.... A very interesting detail is that his wife was of German AND Jewish decent! Can you imagine what her feelings and her husbands must have been witnessing life/living in Germany in the late 30's !!! Thank you Graf for identifying the award. It certainly does look like the Bulgarian award does not originally belong to the group. It's not on the photo and I don't have any proof of him being in Bulgaria yet. Theoretically there still is a gap in his career between '25 and '31 where he could have been posted there and there were strong (family) ties between the Bulgarian Royalty and the Belgian one which might perhaps have played a role as well but so far no proof of anything. I will try to find out more. On analysing the photo further I have come to the conclusion that the mounted group on the photo shows from left to right the Officer's Grade of the Order of Leopold I, the National Committee First Class Medal, the Knight's grade in the Order of the Crown (rather the a French LdH as I thought first. The Knight's grade Crown Order came with the group as well but was badly damaged. In the mounted group as it is now it has been replaced by the higher Commander Grade in the Order of the Crown) and finally the Cuban Merit Medal for the Red Cross. Round his neck I think we indeed see the German Eagle Order, the Finnish Order of the White Rose and the Portuguese Commander in the Order of Christ together with the matching silver breast star. Can you agree with this chaps or do you see something else?

Here's an attempt to show the MM. Besides the crown and the 813H I don't see a "yearmark". Have written to the secretariat to ask for more info. If they come up with something I'll let you know!

Thank you Graf! Exact width of the cross is 64 mm. What does that mean? The Belgian GO Leo II came in a Fonson case. (Not that that proves anything) I have no paperwork tying the man to Bulgaria. What I have is: °Antwerp 1889 Antwerp 1911 obtains a master degree in "commercial and consular sciences" 1912 to Havana, Cuba 1915 (vice)consul in New York + marriage in NY 1921 Consul in São-Paulo, Brazil 1925 Consul in Helsingfors/Helsinki 1931 In Nairobi. Consul for Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar and Tanganika 1934 in Köln. Consul for a # of German states 1938 in Sydney. Consul for the Commonwealth of Australia incl. Papua, New Guinee and both the British and French possessions west of 180° WWII (1943) in Australia 1947 in Pretoria. Consul for South- and North-Rhodesia, Nyassaland as well as for Mozambique (Portuguese) 1949 in South-Africa 1953 Consul in Australia

Thank you JohanH! In his paperwork I have found one letter addressed to him as consul in Helsingfjors in 1925. I guess the award will have been made around that time. (this also coincides with a peak in the awards as visible in the table you provided). Going to write to the email-address you provided to see if they have more details. Details on the maker marks posted later today.

Hello gents The medal below is in a group to a Belgian diplomat who was in Havana in the early 20's. It looks very much like the Cuban Red Cross Merit medal but this last one I only find on the internet with the moto "inter inimicos charitas" on the reverse while this particular medal has "inter arma charitas"? Thanks for the help in identifying! l4h