Footnotes

According to information supplied by the vendor:-

"Acquisition of the car mascot....as told to me by my mother, the daughter of Colonel W F Charter M.C."

In 1930, Abyssinia was ruled by Emperor Haile Selassie who took great pride in calling himself "The Lion of Judah" and as such he ruled from his magnificent palace in Addis Ababa where tame lions roamed free, the Emperor often took two lions, on leads, with him when he went about his State duties.

In 1935 Italy declared war on Abyssinia which it then invaded. Many countries, including Great Britain had Legations in Addis Ababa representing their interests in the country, but the Legations only had "token guards" for ceremonial occasions. With war spreading from the Italian invasion in the north of Abyssinia, the British decided that their Legation in must be properly defended, so one company of 120 Indian Army troops was chosen to go to protect them. The troops chosen were from the 5/14th (Pathans) Punjab regiment, under the command of Major W F 'Bill' Charter, MC.

Major Charter was responsible for the handling and rescue of hundreds of refugees, including the staff of several foreign Legations. When the Emperor had to flee his Palace on route to Jerusalem, in May 1936, rather than let the Italians ransack his Palace, Major Charter opened the doors to the people of Addis Ababa, who themselves ransacked the Palace, looting and drinking, and throwing everything they didn't want, on to the streets for anyone to pick up and take away. During this time Major Charter found Haile Selassie's personal car, his Saoutchik Delage 8, which had been a gift from the French Government, burning in a ditch and abandoned. Major Charter managed to remove the personal mascot, the "Lion of Judah", from the car bonnet. He took the mascot back to India, and then to England, and mounted it on a wooden block, upon which the engraved plaque was mounted. Upon his death it passed by descent to his daughter Elizabeth and then to the vendor, the granddaughter of Major Charter.