*Air Efficiency, G.VI.R. (Flt. Lt. Lord Mottistone. A.A.F.), engraved in small capitals, toned, about extremely fine. 90527 Flight Lieutenant Lord Mottistone is confirmed in the book ‘The Air Efficiency Award 1942-2005’ by Brooks as having received his award on 7 February 1952, for service in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. Henry John Alexander Seely, 2nd Baron Mottistone (1899-1963), was born on 1 May 1899, the son of the British Army General and politician John Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone, and Emily Florence Crichton. He was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read Architecture and met his future business partner Paul Edward Paget. He served in the Great War with the 95th (Hampshire Yeomanry) Brigade, Royal Artillery, reaching the rank of Captain, however his brother, Second Lieutenant Frank Reginald Seely, Royal Hampshire Regiment, was sadly killed in action at the Battle of Arras. During WW2 he served with the Auxiliary Air Force, reaching the rank of Flight Lieutenant, latterly joined the Ministry of Works. He succeeded to the Mottistone Barony in 1947. In his civilian career in the inter-war years and after WW2, he established the firm Seely & Paget, with whom he would undertake important work at Eltham Palace, was Surveyor of St Paul’s Cathedral, and designed the Chapel of the Order of the British Empire. He also designed St George’s chapel at Windsor Castle, and undertook major post-war restoration projects at Westminster Abbey, Lambeth Palace, Eton College, Fulham Palace, Charterhouse and many others. He was awarded the O.B.E. in 1961, and died on 18 January 1963.
Estimate: £200-£300