Scandinavians in Belgian Congo

[Stefan]

Hi!

 

I bought this little group a year ago and I thought it would be interesting to do some research about it.

For some reason the Swedish coppersmith Nils Johan Alfred LIDBOM (1880-1964) went to the Belgian Congo and served there between 1905-1930 (according to the auction text).

 

He was decorated:

The Service Star, in gold. (from what I believe it should be)
The Royal Order of the Lion, in gold.
The Commemorative Medal for the Congo.

 

With the group was his navy badge and a commemorative medal. Can anyone enlighten me regarding these two?

 

 

I actually found his name in an article in L’ECHO BELGE, 1918-01-24:
https://nieuwsvandegrooteoorlog.hetarchief.be/en/pid/mk6542kg5q
“11-17 novembre 1917. Lois, arrêtés royaux et actes du couvernement. Ministère des colonies. Ordre Royal du Lion. - Nominations. Voulant donner un témoignage de Notre bienveillance aux personnes désignées ciaprès; La Médaille d’Or de l’Ordre Royal du Lion est décernée à:
…
Lidbom, N.J.A., contremaître de la Marine”

 

And when google translates it:

“11-17 November 1917. Laws, royal decrees and acts of government. Colonial Ministry. Royal Order of the Lion. - Appointments. Wishing to give a testimony of Our benevolence to the persons named below; The Gold Medal of the Royal Order of the Lion is awarded to:
…
Lidbom, N, Navy Foreman”

 

He is also mentioned in L'indépendance belge, 1917-12-22, with the same list.
https://nieuwsvandegrooteoorlog.hetarchief.be/en/pid/6q1sf2n81p

 

In the newspapers there are several more persons listed that got the award and I found some more Swedes, Finns etc. I will try to compile the list of names and post it here. When you download the papers you get XML-pages with the text, but my own OCR program did a better job.

 

 

Regards,

Stefan

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by Stefan

[Graf]

On 10/04/2023 at 23:41, Stefan said:

Hi!

 

I bought this little group a year ago and I thought it would be interesting to do some research about it.

For some reason the Swedish coppersmith Nils Johan Alfred LIDBOM (1880-1964) went to the Belgian Congo and served there between 1905-1930 (according to the auction text).

 

He was decorated:

The Service Star, in gold. (from what I believe it should be)
The Royal Order of the Lion, in gold.
The Commemorative Medal for the Congo.

 

With the group was his navy badge and a commemorative medal. Can anyone enlighten me regarding these two?

 

 

I actually found his name in an article in L’ECHO BELGE, 1918-01-24:
https://nieuwsvandegrooteoorlog.hetarchief.be/en/pid/mk6542kg5q
“11-17 novembre 1917. Lois, arrêtés royaux et actes du couvernement. Ministère des colonies. Ordre Royal du Lion. - Nominations. Voulant donner un témoignage de Notre bienveillance aux personnes désignées ciaprès; La Médaille d’Or de l’Ordre Royal du Lion est décernée à:
…
Lidbom, N.J.A., contremaître de la Marine”

 

And when google translates it:

“11-17 November 1917. Laws, royal decrees and acts of government. Colonial Ministry. Royal Order of the Lion. - Appointments. Wishing to give a testimony of Our benevolence to the persons named below; The Gold Medal of the Royal Order of the Lion is awarded to:
…
Lidbom, N, Navy Foreman”

 

He is also mentioned in L'indépendance belge, 1917-12-22, with the same list.
https://nieuwsvandegrooteoorlog.hetarchief.be/en/pid/6q1sf2n81p

 

In the newspapers there are several more persons listed that got the award and I found some more Swedes, Finns etc. I will try to compile the list of names and post it here. When you download the papers you get XML-pages with the text, but my own OCR program did a better job.

 

 

Regards,

Stefan

 

Well done

[Kvart]

Very lovely group! I also try to collect Belgian Congo medals and groups, but have had no luck in finding a group to a named individual Scandinavian yet.

 

I would love to see such a list, even more if it would include some Norwegians too :)