CAPTAIN E. VAN LENNEP, 11TH BATTALION CAMERONIANS (SCOTTISH RIFLES) (LATE PRIVATE, 23RD (1ST SPORTMAN'S) BATTALION ROYAL FUSILIERS), WOUNDED IN ACTION AND DECORATED FOR GALLANTRY AT THE BATTLE OF DOIRAN, SALONIKA, 18TH SEPTEMBER 1918. Four: Military Cross, George V (unnamed, as issued) 1914-15 Star (officially impressed: 366 PTE. E. VAN LENNEP. R.FUS.) British War Medal (late issue with stencil engraved naming: CAPT. E. VAN LENNEP) Victory Medal (officially impressed: CAPT. E. VAN LENNEP). Mounted loose style, generally Almost Extremely Fine to Extremely Fine.
The British War Medal in this group is an unnamed example that has been late-issue stencil engraved, not a name erased example that has been renamed. It was presumably issued much later than his other campaign medals as a result of the repeated errors that occurred when Captain Van Lennep's campaign medals were first issued.
Medal rolls confirm that Van Lennep was originally issued with an incorrectly named 1914-15 Star, but that this was returned by him and a correctly named replacement Star issued. His British War and Victory Medals were also intially issued to him incorrectly named and correctly named replacements issued: the replacement Victory Medal and the late issue stencil engraved replacement British War Medal in this group, the stencil engraved British War Medal presumably being issued much later than the replacement Victory Medal, probably in the late 1920's or 1930's.
Group accompanied by biographical details, WW1 Medal Index card, medal rolls (2) and London Gazette entries.
Ernest Eric Van Lennep (1893-1988) was born on 4/1/1893 in Izmir, Turkey, the son of Alfred Oscar Van Lennep (1851-1912) and Laura Virginie Fischer. Van Lennep emigrated to England in 1913, where he obtained employment as an auditor. At the time of the outbreak of WW1 in August 1914 Van Lennep was living in Paris, but when war started he opted to enlist into the British army, enlisting into the 23rd (1st Sportsmans) Battalion Royal Fusiliers. Once up to full strength, the 23rd Royal Fusiliers were posted for service with the newly raised 99th Brigade. Van Lennep first saw active service during WW1 in France, entering that theatre of operations on 16/11/1915 (the 23rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers sailed for France as a unit on 16/11/1915, landing at Boulogne on 17/11/1915). In France, the 23rd Royal Fusiliers initially saw service in the 99th Brigade with 33rd Division and subsequently in the 99th Brigade with the 2nd Division, from 25/11/1915. Van Lennep was seconded from the 23rd Fusiliers in February 1916, being appointed interpreter attached to the French army on 19/2/1916 and commissioned 2nd Lieutenant the following day, 20/2/1916. He was promoted Lieutenant, 20/8/1917. Medal Index card confirms Van Lennep's subsequent promotion to Captain, but date of promotion not traced in London Gazette. Van Lennep retired from the army "on account of ill-health caused by wounds" on 26/9/1919.
Van Lennep's Military Cross was announced in the London Gazette of 30/7/1919, page 9781. Temporary Lieutenant Eric Van Lennep, Special List, Attached 11th Battalion Scottish Rifles (Salonika). "For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during an attack on the enemy's positions on September 18th 1918. He was acting as liaison officer and conducted the battalion to its point of assembly, later leading them into the attack. On three occasions, although badly wounded, he rallied the troops under withering machine-gun fire and led them forward. He set a splendid example of courage to all ranks.".
Van Lennep's MC was for the battle of Doiran (18th - 19th September 1918), when a force comprising Greek and British units attacked the Bulgarian 1st Army near Lake Doiran. The British 22nd and 26th Divisions, the latter division including the 11th Cameronians, being reinforced by the Greek Serres Division for the attack on Pip Ridge. Van Lennep was undoubtedly the 11th Cameronians liaison officer with the Greek troops alongside whom they were fighting, as a result of the fact that he was multi-lingual, being of Dutch ancestry, born in Turkey and having previously been attached to the French army in France as an interpreter. Presumably Van Lennep would have found himself in a difficult position, given that he was Turkish born, had he been captured by the Turk's Bulgarian allies.
Van Lennep's Medal Index card gives home address initially following the outbreak of WW1 as 19 Rue Gambon, Paris, France, and subsequently as 16 Park Square East, Regent's Park, London NW1.
Following the end of WW1, Van Lennep became a naturalised British citizen, taking the Oath of Allegiance on 20/6/1919. At the time of taking the oath, he gave his occupation as that of "clerk serving in His Majesty's forces", and his home address as 24A Portland Place, London.
In the post-war years, Van Lennep was the manager of the Illustrated London News and advertising manager of the Times, 1923-1960. He was twice married, divorcing his first wife in 1929 and marrying for a second time in 1932. He died on 17/8/1988 in Ferring, Sussex, aged 95, leaving a considerable estate valued at £263,257.
The 23rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers was raised in London by Mrs Cunliffe-Owen who, having criticised some of her male friends for not having enlisted, was challenged by them to raise a battalion of recruits. According to the regimental history, she promptly went with them to the post office and telegraphed Lord Kitchener "Will you accept complete battalion of upper and middle class men, physically fit, able to shoot and ride and aged up to of forty-five?". Kitchener accepted Mrs Cunliffe-Owen's offer and recruiting began immediately, with the India Room at the Hotel Cecil in the Strand booked for a month as a recruiting headquarters. The idea of a battalion specifically for "sportsmen" proved popular, with the result that there was intense competition for a place in the battalion. Recruiting began on 6th October 1914 and within four weeks the battalion had been recruited. The men who enlisted were from all corners of the world, the Americas, Africa, Asia, the middle and far East, and included many noted adventurers, sportsmen and big game hunters of the day. Van Lennep's low regimental number "366" indicates that he was an early recruit to the battalion. He was no doubt attracted to the battalion because of his sporting background, his father Alfred having been involved in organising the 1904 Olympics and other members of his family having taken part in the pre-WW1 Olympic games that took place in various cities between 1896 and 1912.
The 11th (Service) Battalion Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) was formed at Hamilton in October 1914. The battalion landed in France at Boulogne on 20/9/1915, as part of 77th Brigade, 26th Division, and transferred to Salonika with 77th Brigade, 26th Division, in November 1915, landing in Salonika on 24/11/1915. The battalion ended the war in Macedonia at Strumica, north-west of Lake Doiran.
The Van Lenneps were a well-connected, prominent Dutch family who played a leading role in Dutch commercial and diplomatic life over the centuries, from the middle ages onwards, variously as diplomats, goldsmiths, brewers, merchants and traders. Group accompanied by biographical details of Ernest Eric Van Lennep's various direct ancestors (surname spelt variously Lymp, Lynype, Lennep), traced back seventeen generations to Werner Heer Van Lymp (born circa 1291 during the reign of Count Floris V of Holland (reigned 1256-1296), a contemporary of Edward I of England (reigned 1272-1307)).
Captain Van Lennep was a member of the Izmir (Turkey) branch of the Van Lennep family, which was established by Captain Van Lennep's great great grandfather, David George Van Lennep (born Amsterdam 1712, died Izmir 1797), who left Holland for Turkey in 1731, settling in Izmir, then known as Smyrna, where he established himself as an independent trader and an assessor for the Dutch Directorate of the Levant Trade and Navigation in the Mediterranean. A portrait of David Van Lennep and of another of Captain Van Lennep's ancestors, Jan Van Lennep (1634-1711), are today housed in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Captain Van Lennep's father, grandfather and great grandfather were all born in Izmir, in 1851, 1818 and 1779 respectively. Captain Van Lennep's father, Alfred Oscar Van Lennep, Knight of the Order of Oranje-Nassau, Commander of the Order of the Medjidi (born 8/4/1851), was one of the 19th century's leading amateur archaelogists and, like his contemporary, Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890), who discovered Troy, excavated and traded in ancient objects from various archaelogical sites in Turkey and Greece. Alfred Van Lennep traded extensively in excavated sculptures, artworks, ancient coins and antiquities. Like Schliemann, many of his more important finds were sold to leading museums in Europe, including the British Museum, which today has some 355 objects supplied by Van Lennep it its collections. The Leiden Museum in Holland was perhaps his most important client. Captain Van Lennep's faither, Oscar Van Lennep, was Dutch vice-consul to Turkey from 1897 and was involved in the establishment of the modern Olympic games. In his youth, he was abducted by Greek bandits for ransom, in May 1868, but released unharmed (the bandits were all subsequently executed).
Ernest Van Lennep, his father and their immediate forebears were members of the multi-national diaspora that was a remarkable feature of Europe in the decades immediately prior to the outbreak of WW1 - the type of individual epitomised by Basil Zaharoff, GCB, GBE, the Greek born arms dealer and industrialist (born Vasileios Zacharias), who became one of the richest men in the world, was knighted in the post-war years by George V despite having sold arms to both sides during the conflict. Like the empires into which they were born, that diaspora evaporated in the turmoil and re-shaping of the world order following the end of the First World War.
For further details of the Van Lennep family of Izmir see the levantineheritage website / The_Van_Lennep_Genealogy_Smyrna_Branch.pdf. This is a facinating and extensive family history, which runs to some 60 pages, with numerous photographic illustrations, including one of the bandits who kidnapped Alfred Van Lennep inn 1868, immediately prior to their execution.
