Orders and Decorations of Admiral of Fleet Hon. Sir Colin Keppel

[Graf]

Not long ago group of Orders and decorations awarded to late Admiral of Fleet Hon. Sir H. Keppel was sold on Auction in London.

Later part of the Group , sadly, was split and sold the other part is still for sale by a British Seller (picture provided)

I was lucky to buy the Grand officer Star of the Sweden Order of the Sword together with some information , sadly not very readable. It is extract from newspaper reflecting the  Swedish Royal visit and information that  Sir C. Keppel was part of the escort to and on the Royal Yacht I think he was in command of the Royal Yacht at that time, however not sure.

It is assumed that Sir HC Keppel was awarded that Star after a visit of the Swedish Royal family. Unfortunately I can not find exactly the date of this visit and when exactly he was awarded Any help  with information will be gratefully accepted

 

Best

Edited July 13, 2021 by Graf

[Graf]

More information

[BlackcowboyBS]

lovely combo!

[Great Dane]

What a shame to split it up...

 

Regarding the Swedish Order of the Sword:

According to the Swedish State Calendar, he was awarded the Commander 1. class i 1908.

[laurentius]

3 minutes ago, Great Dane said:

According to the Swedish State Calendar, he was awarded the Commander 1. class i 1908.

That is his son Sir Colin Richard Keppel, we are looking for the decorations of Sir Henry Keppel. Graf has used both the names Henry and Colin in his first reaction, giving rise to the misunderstanding. Sir Henry Keppel died in 1904. His son became an admiral in 1908 and received the Swedish Order of the Sword that year.

 

Kind regards, Laurentius

[Great Dane]

Ahh.. my bad...

 

He is not listed in the 1886 edition... so must have been awarded it after that...

Any chance that this is a 'father and son' display?

Edited July 13, 2021 by Great Dane

[Great Dane]

OK... re-reading the thread and I'm confused...

 

The top display seems to belong to Sir Henry Keppel (who was probably never awarded the Order of the Sword?).

I can't read the brass plate, but I would assume it is his awards...

 

The bottom display belongs to his son Colin Richard Keppel, and I assume that this is the Swedish breast star that Graf acquired?

 

So isn't it the date for Colin Richard Keppel that Graf is asking for?

[Graf]

Thank you for the comments, Even I got confused that the two groups are to two different people Father Admiral Sir Henry Keppel and son Admiral Sir. Colin Keppel.  Mine main collecting interests arein other areas, that is why my knowledge in British history is not very extensive.

Thank you Laurentius  for clarifying this point.

Sir Henry Keppel died in 1904 according to the bronze plaque , therefore the Swedish Star was awarded to his son Sir Colin Keppel

 

Yes, Great Dane since I am current owner of the Swedish Order my main interest to know when Sir Collin Keppel was awarded

Second point is that from the material i have it is difficult to see the year of the Royal Visit The month is November and the date on the paper looks like 14- th of November The year is missing. I assume that  he was awarded this Star shortly after the visit the year could be the same or the previous one

Edited July 13, 2021 by Graf

[Great Dane]

Well, the newspaper mentions the bicentennial of the birth of the Earl of Chatham, who (if it refers to William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham) was born in 1708...

 

[Graf]

Hi Great Dane,

Thank you for the hint

 

I found more information

Here is a picture from the visit in November 1908

Admiral Sir Colin Keppel was awarded  the Sweden Order shortly after the visit

[JohanH]

Sir Colin Keppel received the order of the Sword on November 17th 1908 according to the award roll. 

[Graf]

Hi JohanH,

 

Thank you for the  nice information

 Now I have quite a bit information for the provenance of the Star

It was a pity that his Grouping was split, however sometimes the dealers do if they feel they can sell the Orders if they separate the Orders and decorations.

An way It worked nice for me because i was looking for a Star of the Orders of the sword and buying a star with provenance was additional bonus

 

Regards

 

Graf

 

 

[JohanH]

It's a great star you have. 

This first type of metalstar (and the best looking type if you ask me) was awarded between 1871-1919. 

During these years a total of 633 Commander 1st class stars were awarded. 

 

Does your star have any hallmarks?

[Graf]

Hi JohanH

 

Yes It is very impressive Star

It is not marked

The size is 80 mm wide, 80 mm high and 87 mm in diagonal

It is pierced

Note -couple of tips are tarnished but no repaired. I did not clean them  because it is how the Star looks on the picture of the Grouping of Admiral Sir Colin Keppel

[JohanH]

Hello!

 

I had the possibility to search in a database of Swedish newspapers for Colin Keppel and found a short article mentioning him. I only had a very limited time to use the database (it was only allowed for 20 minutes per person and day) and I had a few other names to look up. But this is what I found. 

 

The article is from Svenska Dagbladet, November 23rd 1908. 

 

The headline is basically: "The royal couple is in France - Arrived to Cherbourg"

The article itself is mostly about the greetings they received when arriving to France but there are a short part about their departure from UK. 

 

"Sunday, 07:30 the British royal yacht, Victoria & Albert, arrived carrying the king and queen of Sweden. All the ships were decorated and a salute of 21 shots were fired. The weather was rainy. Before leaving the yacht, they royalties went to the grand salon were the higher British officers were gathered. The royal couple greeted the commanding vice-admiral and thanked him for the journey. At 08:00 the royal couple said farewell to admiral Colin Keppel and went ashore while the British and French musicians played the national anthem of Sweden. The king was wearing his admiral uniform with the sash of the Legion of Honor and the queen wore a mauve colored dress"

 

The rest of the article is about the visit in France and gives no more information about Keppel or UK.  

 

The translation is not entirely 100% accurate but it gives the idea of the content of the article. 

I'm sorry for any misspellings or bad grammar, English isn't my native language.

 

Unfortunately the database is not accessible other from special computers in some (few) libraries around Sweden. So I cannot do any more research at the moment. There are surely more information to be found in the old newspaper. 

 

[Graf]

Hi  JohanH,

 

That is very nice of you to get this information.

Now , for sure, we know that the Admiral Colin Keppel was awarded the Star for his role during the Royal Swedish couple

Thank you for your efforts