Medals from the Collection of Brigadier Brian Parritt, C.B.E.
Brigadier (Retd) B.A.H. Parritt, C.B.E.
Brian Parritt, a graduate of Hong Kong University in Mandarin and the Staff College, Camberley, served for 37 years in the British Army, culminating in five years as Director of the Intelligence Corps. Throughout his service he held a variety of senior intelligence and security appointments all over the world, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Borneo, Malta, Libya and Cyprus. A parachutist, he was wounded and commended for bravery as a gunner officer during the Korean War. He was awarded the M.B.E. during the ENOSIS campaign in Cyprus and the C.B.E. in Northern Ireland.
Outside his army career, Brian is a Freeman of the City of London and from 1981 to 1985 was an aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth II. In '1986 he became Honorary Colonel of the Intelligence Corps Volunteers and in 2001 Prince Philip appointed him as the first Deputy Colonel Commandant of the Intelligence Corps. He is currently chairman of the Intelligence Corps Museum board of trustees.
A prolific author on matters of military and maritime security, Brian founded the company International Maritime Security in 1986, serving as chairman and chief executive until May last year. In this role he addressed some 80 seminars all over the world on the subjects of piracy, armed robbery, terrorism, smuggling, drugs, refugees and asylum seekers. He also ran 'anti-piracy' courses for the Merchant Navy and in 1999 was elected as a governor of the United States Maritime Security Council.
Brian first started to collect medals as a boy in 1946. Most of his medals were acquired from pawn shops, silversmiths, antique shops and by exchange between friends-only in recent years have a few pieces come from the medal trade. Broadly speaking, the collection spans the period of the British campaign medal, although Brian's particular favourite is India General Service 1854 awards. He has always been of the opinion that 'every medal presents an exciting challenge for further research' and hopes that this spirit is engendered among the new owners of pieces from his collection.