The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, C.M.G., full neck cravat; The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Civil Division, O.B.E.; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Defence Medal; War Medal 1939-45; Efficiency Medal bar Territorial GVIR (CAPTAIN G.C. LAWRENCE. GENERAL LIST.)
Geoffrey Charles Lawrence, born in London n 1915 was twice decorated'. He was the Colonial Service Financial Secretary & Acting Chief Minister Zanzibar, who in WW2 had served with the Somaliland Camel Corps at the Battle of Tug Argan.
He was awarded the following Orders:
C.M.G.: London Gazette 8 June 1963 (Financial Secretary, Zanzibar)
O.B.E.: London Gazette 12 June 1958 (shown as Financial Secretary, Somaliland)
The Times issue of 21 June 1994, published the below obituary on Geoffrey Charles Lawrence, C.M.G., O.B.E.:
Geoffrey Charles Lawrence, CMG, OBE, former colonial servant, died on June 5 aged 78. He was born on November 11,1915. He joined the Middlesex Yeomanry in 1938 and served in the UK until 27 December 1939 as a an Acting Sergeant with the Royal Signals (2756617). He went to Palestine from 8 January 1940 until June 1940 with the Middlesex Yeo. Cavalry Division Signals. He then went to British Somaliland and Aden from June 1940 until the end of WWII. Serving with the Somaliland Camel Corps he obtained an emergency commission in the Royal Signals on 23 September 1941. He applied for his Efficiency Medal in 1946 and this was awarded to him in the LG 18 February 1949. His WWII medals were sent to him on 12 February 1949.
Had it not been for the Second World War Geoffrey Lawrence would have spent his career in Barclay's Bank. As it was, he found himself in the Horn of Africa, riding a camel across the desert like his more famous namesake, taking on the Italians at the Battle of Tug Argan and running the colonial exchequer in Zanzibar.
Born in London, the son of a civil servant in the Post Office, he joined Barclays after leaving the Stationers’ Company School and was posted to the bank’s headquarters in the City. But he also enlisted in the Territorial Army and was called up on the outbreak of war. He went with the Middlesex Yeomanry to Palestine, but then went down with measles followed by pneumonia. With his comrades-in-arms sent to fight in North Africa, Lawrence found himself, on his recovery, bored and redundant. In search of action he volunteered for the Camel Corps and, after training in Egypt, was posted to the British Protectorate of Somaliland.
Lawrence was amongst those troops forced to evacuate the Protectorate after retreating before the Italians at Tug Argan. After six months nursing their wounded pride in Aden, however, the British returned and recaptured the territory. Sergeant Lawrence was now commissioned and put in charge of the customs office under a new Military Occupied Territory Administration, stationed in Berbera.
A Major by the time the War ended, he applied to join the Colonial Service and in September 1947 was sent to Brasenose College, Oxford, on the first so-called Devonshire Course, under which new colonial officers were taught the practical skills of administrating the Empire. He and his wife spent the next 16 years in and around East Africa. Starting as a District Commissioner in Berbera, then classed as a hardship post by Whitehall, he was transferred to the secretariat in Hargeisa, where he rose from being an assistant chief secretary to become financial secretary in 1956. In 1960 he accepted the post of financial secretary in Zanzibar and remained there until 1963 when internal self-government was introduced. He was also a member of the East African Currency Council.
Out of a job at the age of 48, he was approached by the Colonial Office with the offer of a temporary assignment. The temporary job gradually became permanent, and Lawrence was to become involved in, among other things, the Aden Crisis in the 1960s and the Geneva constitutional conference which followed. He retired in 1976, aged 61.
Disliking London and its surrounds, he spent his retirement in the country, pottering about his greenhouse and taking his West Highland terrier's for walks. He had no children and is survived by his wife Joyce.'
Unquote.
Somaliland Camel Corps: In September 1939, the Somaliland Camel Corps had a total strength of only fourteen British officers, one British non-commissioned officer, and 554 non-European (mostly ethnic Somalis) other ranks. Initially, the corps was placed under the garrison commander of French Somaliland. The four companies of the Somaliland Camel Corps were split among five different locations in the colony. Only "A" Company retained its camels, while the other companies had become infantry units
On the brink of war in 1939, the Somaliland Camel Corps was deployed across the territory at:
- Headquarters and Headquarters Company, The Somaliland Camel Corps: Laferug (Lafaruug - located near Mandheera between Berbera and Hargeysa along Route 1 Highway
- 'A' (Camel) Company: Hargeisa
- 'B' (Nyasa Infantry) Company: Tug Argan - southwest of Laferug near Hargeisa south of Assa Hills
- 'C' Company: Burao
- 'D' Company: Tug Argan (less 2 Platoons at Sheekh)
Field Marshal Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East Command, was appalled by the under-equipped force that was supposed to defend an entire colony. In 1940, as a result of his concern, the unit was partially mechanised and further defences were built. However, before the upgrades could be completed, the funding ceased
At the beginning of the East African Campaign, the Somaliland Camel Corps, bolstered with a battalion of the Northern Rhodesian Regiment, had 1,475 men to defend British Somaliland. Reinforcements were eventually sent from Aden in a vain hope to stop the Italian invasion
During the Italian conquest of British Somaliland, the Somaliland Camel Corps skirmished and screened the Italian attacking force along the border before pulling back to more defensible positions at the Tug Argan gap. During the Battle of Tug Argan, fought between 11–15 August when the Italian invaders attempted to force the positions.
Sold together with some copied research. Medals are in good condition unless otherwise indicated.
