GROUPS AND SINGLE DECORATIONS FOR GALLANTRY 11
A Great War ‘Western Front’ M.C. group of six awarded to Major H. J. C. Rostron, Royal Fusiliers, late 5th Dragoon Guards and Northumberland Fusiliers, who was wounded in both the Boer War and the Great War
MILITARY CROSS, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; QUEEN’S SOUTH AFRICA 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (Capt: H. J. C. Rostron. North’d Fus:); KING’S SOUTH AFRICA 1901-02, 2 clasps (Capt. H. J. C. Rostron. North’d. Fus.); 1914 STAR, with clasp (Capt: H. J. C. Rostron. 5/D. Gds.); BRITISHWAR AND VICTORYMEDALS (Major H. J. C. Rostron.) traces of lacquer, good very fine (6)
£1400-1800 M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1918.
Hubert James Cecil Rostron was born in Beddington, Surrey, on 12 February 1875, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Northumberland Fusiliers on 24 March 1897, having previously served as a Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment. Promoted Lieutenant on 22 October 1899, he served with the 2nd Battalion in South Africa during the Boer War, taking part in the operations in the Orange Free State, February to May 1900; in the Orange River Colony, May to November 1900; and in the Cape Colony, south of the Orange River, 1899 to 1900. He was slightly wounded at Smaldeel on 19 June 1900 whilst serving with the Mounted Infantry, and was Mentioned in Lord Roberts’ Despatch of 2 April 1901. Promoted Captain on 12 March 1901, he transferred to the 3rd Battalion in July 1903, before resigning his commission on 18 December 1903, having been absent for most of the past six months- various official letters written during the period hint at the desirability of him being allowed to resign, with financial difficulties being a possibly reason.
On the outbreak of the Great War he joined the 1st Reserve Cavalry and was appointed a temporary Captain on 17 September 1914. Posted to the 5th Dragoon Guards, he served with them on the Western Front from 5 November 1914, and commanded “A” Squadron from 24 December 1914 to June 1915, and then “B” Squadron from June to September 1915. He was subsequently appointed second in command of the 22nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, 9 November 1915, and remained with them until being declared medically unfit in June 1916 after ‘he was blown up on the night of 23-24 May 1916 when the Battalion attacked on the Vimy Ridge, and has been suffering from insomnia and nervous exhaustion.’ (Medical Board report refers). He returned to the Reserve Cavalry at Aldershot after he left hospital, and again went out to France, where he was awarded the Military Cross for Gallantry in the Field in the 1918 New Year’s Honours List. He retired in October 1919, and died of alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver at home in Odiham, Hampshire, on 2 December 1926. He is buried alongside his wife in the vault of the Hastings Chapel in Ashby-de-la-Zouche Castle.
Sold together with a large quantity of copied research, including extensive Medical Board reports.
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