Morning everyone,
I found this British 1914-15 Star, I liked it for the good conditions, the beautiful patina and because it still seems to have its original ribbon; I later also managed to recover his Victory Medal, although the British War Medal was lost.
The low service number of its owner immediately suggested me that he could be a soldier of the Territorial Force; and this fact was confirmed after studying the documentation of East Kent Regiment.
The story that emerged from this research, after consulting military and civil sources, seemed to me important because it reminds us the Mesopotamia Campaign, less known than other WW1 fronts, and why this soldier was wounded in action.
I was able to identify the full name of its owner and the Unit to which it belonged, and I tried to reconstruct the movements of his Battalion until October 1918:
photo from this site:
http://www.kentfallen.com/PDF%20REPO...ORD%20TOWN.pdf
P.TE ARTHUR LEWIS BAKER
Service Number 1660
Born to Ashford (Kent) in 1889; Son of Thomas and Carolina.
Enlisted with the 1/5th Battalion Territorial Force (Weald of Kent) - “The Buffs” East Kent Regiment”.
Died of wounds while fighting in battle in Iraq on January 20, 1916; buried in Basra War Cemetery.
Buffs 1/5th Battalion Territorial Force:
04-08-1914 Formed at Ashford as part of the Kent Brigade of the Home Counties Division, then moved to Dover, Canterbury and then Sandwich.
30-10-1914 Embarked for India from Southampton where the Home Counties Division was broken up.
Dec 1915 Landed at Basra and joined the 35th Indian Brigade of the 7th Indian Division.
Feb 1916 Became corps troops and formed composite unit with 2 companies of the 1/4th Hampshire Battalion.
12-05-1916 Transferred to the 35th Indian Brigade of the 14th Indian Division.
31-10-1918 Ended the war in Shahraban N.E. of Baghdad.
From the collected info it would seem that Arthur was wounded during the Sheikh-Sa’ad Battle, fought between the 6th and 8th of January 1916;
he was later transferred to the military hospital in Basra where he died on January 20, 1916.
This battle was one of many attacks launched by the British and Indian forces to try to break the siege of Kut-al-Amara fortress by the Turkish Army, in order to free his unfortunate occupants.
From the same link indicated above, it would seem that Arthur had a brother named Henry William (s.num. G/8893) enlisted in the 1st Battalion of the same Regiment, who died of wounds in France on 21/09/1916; but this is another story.
I have many British WW1 Stars in my collection (1914 Mons and 1914-15), but this is one of my favorites example and I thought it was an interesting story to share.
Thanks for looking and Happy New Year to all!
Roberto
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