Military Cross awarded to Captain Frank Coutts Hendry, Indian Army Reserve, OBE, MC.

Frank Coutts Hendry served in the Merchant Navy before working for the Rangoon Pilot Service. He then served as an Indian Army officer on the North-West Frontier. During the World War I he served in Mesopotamia and was briefly in command of a naval gunboat.

After the war he returned to the Rangoon Pilot Service and retired in 1923. Captain Hendry was also an author who wrote under the pseudonym, ‘Shalimar’. The Military Cross was gazetted April 17 1916 and the OBE ‘for valuable services rendered in connection with military operations in Mesopotamia’ March 3 1919.

The Military Cross is a silver cross with a crown pointing outwards on each arm. In the centre is the Royal Cypher. The cross hangs from a plain bar through which the ribbon passes. The ribbon is white with a purple stripe.

The museum also holds Captain Hendry’s OBE and the following medals: 1914-15 Star inscribed ‘2 Lt F. C. Hendry 4 Rajputs’ (MED1143), British War medal inscribed ‘Capt. F. C. Hendry (MED1144), Victory medal with oak leaf for Mentioned in Despatches and inscribed ‘Capt. F. C. Hendry (MED1145) and Special Constabulary Long Service medal (MED1146).