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WW1 British medal group

Article about: A few weeks ago I chanced upon a WW1 trio to a recipient of the Military Medal - although this was missing from the set. Included with the medals was his Royal Highlanders (Black Watch) cap-

  1. #1

    Default WW1 British medal group

    A few weeks ago I chanced upon a WW1 trio to a recipient of the Military Medal - although this was missing from the set. Included with the medals was his Royal Highlanders (Black Watch) cap-badge and his Machine Gun Corps cap-badge and shoulder titles.

    I don't as a rule collect medals. But the seller had been trying to sell them for a while, and had dropped the price yet again. He was also threatening to split the items up if a buyer couldn't be found. It would have been a shame for that to happen, so on an impulse I decided to buy them.

    WW1 British medal group

    The previous owner had done some research, but I decided to do some further work myself.

    Private Barclay James Stewart enlisted with the 1/6th Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) Territorial Battalion on the 7th March 1914. He was sent to Belgium on 2nd May 1915. And on the 18th August 1915 he was slightly wounded in the neck.

    In March 1916 he was sent back to England and transferred to 103 Coy Machine Gun Corps on 25th July 1916. Pte Stewart then returned to France on 13th September 1916.

    On the 28th October he was fined five day's pay by the OC 103 Coy for 'Smoking in the trenches whilst on standby duty.'

    In 1917 he took part in the battle of Arras. On the 17th July 1917 his award of the Military Medal was gazetted. On the 21st September he received a gunshot wound to the leg and was hospitalised. In October he was transferred to 91 Coy MGC and remained with them until he was demobilised in 1919.

    The trio of medals are the original one's issued to Pte Stewart. But I took the decision to add a 'replacement quality' copy of the MM to finish off the medal grouping. I didn't have his name engraved on the medal, as I didn't want any future owner of the items to think he had the original MM.

  2. #2

    Default Re: WW1 British medal group

    Well done on keeping this group together,i am not a medal collector myself but there is nothing that annoys me more than some clown breaking up groups and not only wrecking history but also being disrespectful to the bravery of the original recepient!!

  3. #3

    Default Re: WW1 British medal group

    Sometimes the family splits up a group so each heir gets a memento.

    Below is just the opposite - a Military Medal with no War
    and Victory pair to go with it .........!


    165797 Spr. L/Cpl. A. Thornhill R.E.
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture WW1 British medal group  
    Regards,


    Steve.

  4. #4

    Default Re: WW1 British medal group

    Hi Steve,

    There were sometimes other reasons for groups being split up as well. When times were hard, the most valuable medal would be pawned to get some money to put food on the table. There were so many trio's about that they were worth next to nothing.

    According to his conduct sheet, Pte Stewart was in trouble again for 'Losing by neglect, numerals.' At least that's what it looks like! It made me wonder if it was actually his shoulder titles. Perhaps he 'lost' them to keep as a souvenir. I was guilty of this offence when I served in the army. Sometimes, the only way to keep a bit of your kit was to 'lose' it and pay for a replacement.

    Regards,
    Harry (Steve)

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