Watch List notes:

Miniatures: Admiral Gordon Campbell's original Great War period Victoria Cross and triple D.S.O. Miniature Group of Seven and other items (see below) personally presented by the Admiral to Dorothy Isobel Mackay Houston, his literary assistant and close friend, comprising: Victoria Cross, in bronze; D.S.O., G.V.R., silver gilt, with two bars; 1914-15 Star; British War Medal, with 6 unofficial silver clasps, Home Seas 1914, Home Seas 1915, Home Seas 1916, Home Seas 1917, Home Seas 1918, "Q-Ships"; Victory medal; France, Légion d'Honneur, Officer's breast badge in gilt and enamels, with rosette upon ribbon; France, Croix de Guerre with palm, 1914-1918, mounted on bar with reverse brooch-pin, extremely fine, in Spink & Son case. The lot is offered with the following additional items: A metal brooch-mounted V.C. and D.S.O. riband bar, with miniature Victoria Cross emblem on its original 1917 blue ribbon and rosette on D.S.O. ribbon to denote a first bar; A cloth riband bar with miniature Victoria Cross emblem (now loose) upon post-1917 standardised V.C. ribbon, with two rosettes on D.S.O. ribbon to denote first and second bars; An original silver print portrait photograph of Gordon Campbell in uniform, 200 x 150mm, signed both by the recipient and by the Royal photographer Hay Wrightson (1874-1949), of 41 New Bond Street, London, with details to reverse (the portrait as used as the frontispiece for Gordon Campbell's My Mystery Ships, first published in 1928 and illustrated here as the header to lot 194). Two signed hardback copies of Gordon Campbell's books A Son of the Sea and Captain Cook (both 1936), each bearing a personal manuscript dedication and thanks to 'The Boatswain' (then Miss D. I. Mackay Houston, later First Officer, W.R.N.S., who became Mrs Mackay-Mure) for her assistance with each book, also signed and dated by the recipient. A Son of the Sea additionally bears the printed dedication 'To D.I.M.H.', both volumes in good used condition. Four personal manuscript letters from Gordon Campbell to Miss Mackay-Houston, of which three are humorous and playful in nature (one dated 26 November 1939), and the fourth to 'Beloved & respected Bos'n...' containing heartfelt, personal advice, written on paper with Admiralty seal, undated, circa 1940. Copied documentation giving specific provenance information. Provenance: All the items in this lot were given personally by Vice-Admiral Gordon Campbell to Miss D.I. Mackay-Houston, affectionately nicknamed 'The Bos'n', who worked closely with him during his time as Member of Parliament for Burnley and who assisted him with the writing of several of his books. A graduate of the University of London, she became a First Officer with the W.R.N.S. in WW2, remaining a lifelong friend of the Rear-Admiral and his family. Gordon Campbell's son David became Godfather to her daughter, Christina Jane Mackay-Mure. (7)