CAMPAIGN GROUPS AND PAIRS 232 Three: Private H. J. Middleton, 16th Lancers, later Sergeant Instructor, Home Guard
1914 STAR, with clasp (1686 Pte. H. J. Middleton. 16/Lrs.); BRITISHWAR AND VICTORYMEDALS (1686 A. Cpl. H. J. Middleton. 16-Lrs.); DEFENCEMEDAL (514 Sgt. Inst. H. J. Middleton, 12th. Batt. Home Guard.) privately engraved naming, nearly very fine (4)
£100-140
233
Four: Sergeant H. Snook, Northumberland Fusiliers 1914 STAR, with clasp (172 Sjt. H. Snook. 1/North’d Fus.); BRITISHWAR ANDVICTORYMEDALS (172 Sjt. H. Snook. North’d Fus.); DEFENCE MEDAL, edge bruise to BWM, first slightly worn, nearly very fine
Pair: Private E. Ellerker, Northumberland Fusiliers BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS (45726 Pte. E. Ellerker. North’d Fus.) good very fine
Pair: Private J. Peacock, Northumberland Fusiliers BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS (50221 Pte. J. Peacock. North’d Fus.) nearly very fine (8)
£120-160
234
Family Group:
Six: Private G. W. Stokes, Royal Fusiliers and Air Raid Precautions 1914 STAR, with clasp (14732 Pte G. W. Stokes. 4/R. Fus.); BRITISHWAR AND VICTORY MEDALS (14732 Sjt. G. W. Stokes. R. Fus.); DEFENCE MEDAL; Belgium, Kingdom, VETERAN’S CROSS, gilt, with bronze laurel leaf emblem on riband; France, Third Republic, SOMME COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL, bronze, mounted as worn, good very fine
Pair: attributed to J. D. Stokes 1939-45 STAR; WAR MEDAL 1939-45, mounted as worn, good very fine (8)
£180-220
George Wallace Stokes was born in Lambeth, London, in June 1892, and attested for the Royal Fusiliers prior to 1911. He served during the Great War on the Western Front with the 4th Battalion Royal Fusiliers - his battalion was one of the first to embark for the Western Front; he arrived with them on the Continent on 13 August 1914, as part of the 9th Brigade, 3rd Division, II Corps, and advanced with them as far as the town of Mons, just over the Belgian border, reaching the outskirts of the town on 22 August. That morning a patrol from the 4th Dragoon Guards had encountered a German picquet on the road leading to Mons and, firing upon it, had driven it off - the first shot of the War fired by the British on the Continent. Further reconnaissances carried out that day by British Cavalry units established the fact that the German forces in great numbers were present in the vicinity, and the entire British Expeditionary Force was ordered to advance forward to take up a position on the banks of the Mons-Condé Canal. Following a trying march over cobbled roads, Cox’s Battalion reached the canal on the afternoon of 22 August. As would soon become apparent, the canal formed a far from ideal defensive line. Forming a broad loop as it skirted around Mons it thus created a salient, which was ill- adapted to a prolonged and serious defence. Two bridges crossed the canal here, a road bridge and a rail bridge; if the Germans were able to capture these bridges then the British Expeditionary Force would be surrounded and would have to evacuate their entire front line. ‘B’ and ‘C’ Companies, 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, were positioned at this critical point and were responsible for the embankment and the two bridges. The following morning, Sunday 23 August, the Germans launched their attack at 09:00 hours, as four battalions were suddenly flung at the railway bridge - the first infantry attack of the Great War. Despite the gallantry shown by the Battalion’s machine-gunners, especially Lieutenant M. J. Dease and Private S. F. Godley, casualties mounted steadily, and at 14:00 hours the orders came for the Battalion to withdraw. They had to move from their dangerous position across 250 yards of exposed open ground which was being swept by shrapnel and machine-gun fire. Private Godley alone remained at his gun, maintaining a covering fire until all the Battalion had been successfully evacuated with minimal additional casualties. For their supreme valour both Dease and Godley were subsequently awarded the Victoria Cross- the first V.C.s awarded during the Great War.
Stokes continued with the 4th Battalion, and served through the retreat from Mons. He was promoted to Sergeant before transferring to the Machine Gun Corps on 30 January 1916, immediately on formation of the M.G.C., and was discharged on 15 February 1919. He served during the Second World War as an A.R.P. Warden, living at 80, Firhill Road, Lewisham, and died in 1973.
John Donald Stokes was born in 1920, the son of George Wallace Stokes and his wife Annie. He served during the Second World War, and died in Greenwich in 1986.
235
Five: Trooper A. D. G. Gifford, 20th Hussars, later 7th Hussars
1914 STAR, with copy clasp (4914 Pte G. Gifford 20/Hrs.); BRITISHWAR AND VICTORYMEDALS (4914 Pte. A. D. G. Gifford. 20- Hrs.);WARMEDAL 1939-45;ARMY L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 3rd issue, Regular Army (536585 Tpr. A. D. Gifford. 7-H.) mounted as worn, minor contact marks, very fine and better (5)
£140-180
Alfred Daniel G. Gifford was born in 1887 in Ramsgate, Kent, and at the time of the 1911 Census was at The Curragh, Ireland with the 20th Hussars. He served with 20th Hussars during the Great War on the Western Front from 16 August 1914 to 27 October 1914 and again in France from 15 April 1917 to 11 November 1918, having at some stage transferred to the Military Mounted Police. He was discharged to Class ‘Z’ Reserve on 6 January 1919 and re-enlisted on 5 August 1919 at Whitehall with the 14th Hussars. He was discharged at Canterbury as Trooper 7th Hussars attached from 14th/20th Hussars on 24 August 1932, and was awarded his Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal per Army Order in December 1932. He died in Ealing in 1951.
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