CAMPAIGN GROUPS AND PAIRS
During the Great War Coulson served as Carpenter aboard the S.S. Brussels under Captain Charles Fryatt. The Brussels was a Great Eastern Railway steamer running between Rotterdam and the East Coast of England. The vessel was of much annoyance to the Germans and they made several determined efforts to sink her.
On 3 March 1915 Captain Fryatt of the Wrexham, successfully evaded an attack on his ship by a German U-Boat. The Wrexham ignored the signal to stop and used her superior speed to escape. For his actions, the ship’s grateful owners presented Fryatt with a gold watch.
On 28 March 1915, Captain Fryatt, then in command of the Brussels, encountered the U-33. Again ignoring signals to stop, Fryatt ordered full-speed and fatefully attempted to ram the submarine which hastily submerged. For this exploit Fryatt was awarded another gold watch, this time from the Admiralty. On 11 and 15 June she was again menaced by German submarines and on each occasion used her speed to escape.
The Brussel’s luck finally ran out on 23 June 1916 when she was captured by German destroyers off the Dutch coast and taken to Zeebrugge in occupied Belgium. Captain Fryatt and the crew of the Brussels, including Coulson, were sent to a prison camp in Germany. There, Fryatt might have spent the rest of the war in captivity, however notification of his capture and his past exploits appearing in the British press alerted the Germans, and Admiral Ludwig von Schroder, wishing to make an example of Captain Fryatt and to deter other Merchant Navy captains from attempting to sink German submarines, placed Fryatt on trial as a franc-tireur - a civilian ‘illegally’ fighting against German military forces. On 27 July 1916 Fryatt was tried by a naval court martial, found guilty and executed by firing squad later the same day. A German official statement concluded, ‘One of the many nefarious “franc-tireurs” proceedings of the British Merchant Marine against our war vessels has thus found a belated but merited expiation.’ The action caused outrage in Britain and the civilised world. In 1919 his body was exhumed from its simple grave in Belgium and after a funeral in St. Paul’s Cathedral, attended by the King and Queen of Belgium, members of the British Cabinet, Admiralty, Board of Trade and hundreds of merchant seamen and widows of merchant seamen, his body was laid to rest in Dovercourt near Harwich. A memorial to Captain Fryatt may be found at Liverpool Street Station, London.
With postcards (4) relating to Fryatt and the Brussels, and related copied research including m.i.c. and a photocopied photograph of Coulson as a senior member of Fryatt’s crew.
William Henry Coulson was born in Harwich in 1880. With copied m.i.c.
Eric William Coulson was born in Harwich on 1 July 1917. He was aboard the S.S. Pozarica when she was sunk off Buggi, North Africa. Post-war he lived in Baughurst, Tadley, Hampshire and died c.1980. With two original wartime photographs of the recipient, and copied discharge certificate.
1536
Pair: Stoker 1st Class Y. Cox, Royal Navy BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS (K.34936 Sto. 1, R.N.) very fine (2)
£30-50
Youth Cox was born in Grafton, Wiltshire on 17 February 1886. A Motor Car Mechanic by occupation, he enlisted into the Royal Navy for the duration of the war on 6 July 1916. Serving initially as a Stoker 2nd Class, he was advanced to Stoker 1st Class in September 1916. Initially based at Victory II, July 1916-February 1917, he later served on the destroyers Llewellyn, February-March 1917; Undine, May 1917-July 1918, and Tobago, October 1918-February 1919. He was demobilised on 8 March 1919. With copied service paper and some family details.
1537
Pair: Private G. C. Petty, 10th Battalion Canadian Infantry BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS (904668 Pte., 10-Can. Inf.) nearly extremely fine (2)
£40-60
Believed to be a relative of Clarence Adelbert Petty (1905-2009) an ardent advocate, conservationist and forest ranger of the Adironack Park, New York State.
1538
BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDAL PAIRS (5) (216284 Pte. 1 F. Thatcher, R.A.F.; 46080 2 A.M. F. Gay, R.A.F.; 25411 2 A.M. H. L. Clogg, R.A.F.; 64618 Pte. 1 E. H. Moulder, R.A.F.; 409193 Pte. 2 W. Prentice, R.A.F.) very fine and better (10)
£120-160 1539
BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDAL PAIRS (5) (29571 Cpl. A. Happer, R.A.F.; 43727 1 A.M. W. Nicol, R.A.F.; 39236 1 A.M. A. C. Shaw, R.A.F.; 206637 Ch. Mech. W. J. Goodchild, R.A.F.; 26534 Cpl. W. Kerr, R.A.F.) last with some corrosion to Victory, good fine and better (10)
£140-180
43727 Corporal William Nicol, 1st Aeroplane Supply Depot Repair Park, R.A.F., died on 23 September 1918, aged 24 years. He was buried in the Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, Pas de Calais. He was the son of Janet and Charles Nicol of Auchterarder, Perth, Scotland.
Medals to ‘Happer’ in named card box of issue. 1540
Pair: Private F. L. Williams, 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, killed in action, France/Flanders, 16 September 1916 BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS (16329 Pte., C. Gds.) nearly extremely fine (2)
£60-80
Frank Lewis Williams was born in St. Pancras, Middlesex, lived in Ratcliffe and enlisted at Poplar, Middlesex. Serving with No. 2 Company, 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, he was killed in action, France/Flanders, on 16 September 1916, aged 32 years. Having no known grave his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. He was the son of Mrs Minnie Williams of 39 Mayfield Road, Dalston and husband of Ethel May Williams of 144 Farringdon Road, London.
1541
Pair: Private D. L. Hilton, 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders, killed in action, France/Flanders, 23 August 1918 BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS (S-42554 Pte., Gordons) extremely fine (2)
£60-80
David L. Hilton was born in Airlie, Forfarshire and enlisted at Perth. Serving with the 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders he was killed in action, France/Flanders on 23 August 1918. He was buried in the Warry Copse Cemetery, Courcelles-le-Comte, Pas de Calais.
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