Buffalo Head By Shot By Claude Raul Champion De Crespigny
P&P 80.00 GBP (UK)
Log #8923
Size: 99cm by 75cm by 73cm
Description: South African Cape Buffalo (Syncerus caffer), dated 1926, by Edward Gerrard & Sons, Taxidermists & Osteologists, 61 College Place, Camden Town, London, mounted upon a trademark shaped shield, bearing brass plaque - "Presented by Brig Gen RC DE Crespigny, July 9th 1926"
Raul was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire. He joined the army and served in the prestigious Grenadier Guards regiment. He became a 2nd Lieutenant on 17 January 1900 and was promoted Lieutenant two years later, on 1 April 1903. Raul was awarded the Queen?s Medal with four clasps in the South African War. He became a Captain in 1908. Over the course of World War 1 Raul was promoted from Captain to Brigadier-General. He was Commanding Officer of the 2nd battalion Grenadier Guards at the Somme and remained in command until 22 Sep 1917, when he replaced Brigadier-General G. D. Jeffreys as commander of the 1st Guards Brigade. Raul de Crespigny was mentioned seven times in despatches. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, D.S.O., in 1916, invested with the Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, C.M.G., in 1918, and the Companion of the Order of the Bath, C.B., a year later. In 1916 he was also decorated with the Montenegrin Cross (Order of Danilo 4th class). An article in a New Zealand newspaper called the Dominion, dated 29 January 1918, with the headline -The Perfect Soldier, described Rauls distaste for staff work and eagerness to return to his battalion. He was: 'One of those commanding officers who believe in being in the thick of the fighting, he used to lead his men over the top with a 'loaded stick' as a weapon. In one of the recent engagements in Flanders he charged a Hun machine-gunner who was scattering death right and left with his stream of bullets. With one mighty swing of his stick he broke the neck of the Hun, and the regiment went on. The Hun's gas mask and steel helmet are in England now hanging on the walls of Brigadier-General de Crespigny's Essex home among innumerable trophies of the chase, grim relics of a man whose hobby is fighting.'
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