Orders, Decorations & Medals - Gallipoli

Lot 3638    Session 12 (11.30am Thursday 26 March)    Orders, Decorations & Medals - Gallipoli

Estimate $6,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $9,500

GALLIPOLI GLASS STEREOSCOPIC SLIDES, totalling 31 and all taken at Gallipoli in May 1915 by Australian Surgeon General Sir Charles Snodgrass Ryan KBE, CMG, CB, and importantly, these extraordinary slides include photos of Australian and Turkish dead and of burial parties on Armistice Day at Gallipoli, 24 May 1915, when no photography was permitted. Extremely fine and very rare. (31)

Only two other collections of Ryan's slides are known. One is in the Australian War Memorial and the other was sold at a Sydney auction in 2008 for $6,600. The collection offered here was purchased from a reputable Melbourne dealer in 1999.

Includes photos of Anzac Beach, Cape Helles, Plugge's Plateau, Quinn's Post, Shrapnel Valley, Russell's Top and Watson's Pier as well as photos of Generals Birdwood, Carruthers, Wagstaff, Walker, Wright and other officers and men.

Major General Sir Charles Snodgrass KBE, CB, CMG, VD was born in 1853 at Killeen Station in Longwood, Victoria. He was educated at Melbourne Grammar School and initially attended medical school in Melbourne but completed his degree in Edinburgh. In 1876 he served as a medical officer with the Turkish Army which was engaged in a war with Serbia. He was present at the first and second battles of Plevna in Bulgaria but fortunately was not present when it was captured by the Russians in December 1877. This service earned the nickname at the time of 'Plevna' Ryan and he was awarded the Turkish Orders of Medjidie and Osmanieh and the War Medal.

While on General Birdwood's staff at Gallipoli in May 1915 Ryan, now in a much more senior medical role and on the opposing side to his former allies, the Turks, had the opportunity to move around almost at will so he began recording his experiences using a stereoscopic camera. A new and popular method of photography at the time, the images were meant to be seen on a special viewer in 3-d. Ryan took outstanding stereoscopic photos and these, identical to the ones offered in this lot, now form a valuable part of the Australian War Memorial's Gallipoli Collection.

Charles Ryan's son, Rupert, was a Lieutenant Colonel in WWI and awarded a DSO in 1918 and CMG in 1928 for service with the Inter-Allied High Commission. He served as the Federal Member for Flinders until his death in 1952. Charles' daughter, Ethel (nickname Maie), married Richard Casey, later Lord Casey Governor General of Australia 1965-69.

With research including comprehensive biographical details and a list of all scenes in the slides and the corresponding AWM reference numbers.