BOER WAR MEDAL 2 CLASPS CAPTAIN SOGGEE MBE MSM MID SERVED WW1 ROYAL TOURNAMENT

Offered is the Queen's South Africa Medal awarded to Captain (Quartermaster) V. C. Soggee, M.B.E., M.S.M., Royal Army Service Corps, a long-served and prominent member of the Royal Tournament

Queens South Africa Medal (1899 – 1902), 2 clasps CAPE COLONY, SOUTH AFRICA 1902, period engraved 18433 Pte V.C. SOGGEE. A.S.C. Comes with copies M.I.C., medal rolls, 1911 census, London Gazette extracts and research.

London Gazette 25/4/1956: M.B.E

London Gazette 1/1/1917: M.S.M

London Gazette 22/6/15 & 1/1/16: M.I.D.

Captain Valentine Charles Soggee was born in 1883 at Notting Hill, London. He joined the Essex Regiment in 1900, latterly serving with the 7th Hussars, before transferring to the Army Service Corps with whom he served in South Africa during 1902.

In 1906 he attended the Military Tournament (latterly the Royal Tournament) for the first time and married later that year. Upon the outbreak of the Great War, Staff Sergeant Soggee served in France with the Advance Motor Transport Depot, Royal Army Service Corps from 15/9/ 1914, earning two mentions in dispatches (London Gazette 22/6/1915 & 1/1/1916), and the Meritorious Service Medal (London Gazette 1/1/1917).

He maintained his association with the Royal Tournament and in 1930 he was appointed Assistant to the Secretary, being involved with the show's organisation. The Army Service Corps Journal of 1937 gives more detail:

'With him [the Secretary] are two very old friends of the Corps..."Val" Soggee also joined the Staff in 1907 and, continuing until retirement, took up the position of Assistant Chief Clerk from 1930. Soggee is perhaps better remembered for his connection with the Tournament Press arrangements, but of later years his services have been of a more versatile nature, and he continues to be one of the permanent pillars of the show.'

Commissioned Lieutenant (Quartermaster 4/12/1939) and advanced Captain (QM) during the Second World War, he does not appear to have served overseas. The Royal Tournament re-started after the war and Valentine continued in his post. Awarded his M.B.E. for his service with the Royal Tournament over a period of some 26 years as a permanent member of the Staff (London Gazette 25/4/1956), he was 73 years old. He was quoted in the Evening Standard in June 1956:

'I love the Army and the Tournament and nothing would make me happier than a last-minute decision to let me carry on.' Captain Soggee died in early 1969 at Lambeth.