A Collection of Medals to the South Wales Borderers 963 Pair: Private H. S. Baker, South Wales Borderers, later Royal Welsh Fusiliers, who died of wounds on 9 October 1918
British War and Victory Medals (49097 Pte. H. Baker. S. Wales Bord.); Memorial Plaque (Henry Baker) nearly extremely fine (3)
£80-£120
Henry Sidney Baker was born in Ynysybwl near Pontypridd, Glamorgan in 1899 and attested for the South Wales Borderers on 26 February 1916, aged 17. He served with the 1st Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 11 September 1918, before transferring to the 2nd Battalion Royal Welch Fusilier on 18 September 1918. He was mortally wounded on 8 October 1918 and died the next day at the Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, France. He is buried at Rocquigny-Equancourt Road British Cemetery, Manancourt, France.
Sold with copied Medal Index Card and other research. 964
Pair: Private P. E. Fernley, 11th (2nd Gwent) Battalion, South Wales Borderers, who was killed in action on the Western Front on 23 August 1917
British War and Victory Medals (36010 Pte. P. E. Fernley. S. Wales Bord.); Memorial Scroll ‘Pte. Percival Edward Fernley, S. Wales Borderers’, with Buckingham Palace enclosure, extremely fine (2)
£80-£120
Percival Edward Fernley was born in Stepney, London, and attested there for the South Wales Borderers. He served with the 11th Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front, and was killed in action on 23 August 1917. In a letter to Fernley’s parents, his friend Private E. Morgan gives the following details of their son’s death: ‘Dear Mr & Mrs Fernley, It is with deep regret that I write these few lines to you informing you about your son Private Fernley on the 27.8.17 [sic]. We were engaged as linesmen from Brigade Headquarters to battalion Headquarters about 2.30 p.m. Our lines were broken from heavy shell fire we were ordered to go and repair them, we had not gone far when I got hit with shrapnel. Percy helped me upon my feet and I had only gone a few yards when Percy himself was hit seriously. Help came at once but they told me it was all over as he was dying. I did not see any more of him as I was taken away to the hospital, as my wounds were bleeding terrible. As soon as I got to the hospital I sent a note back to the Regiment to let them know what had happened. Percy and me have been close chums since he joined us.’
Fernley has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.
Sold with Record Office enclosure; a (damaged) typed letter to Fernley’s parents from Private E. Morgan, giving details of their son’s death; letter from the Imperial War Graves Commission; a postcard group photograph handwritten on reverse ‘Will be coming home tomorrow. (Saturday afternoon) From Percy’; a postcard of Tyne Cot Memorial; an embroidered birthday card from Percy to his sister, handwritten on reverse ‘From your loving brother Percy, March 5th 1917’; modern photographs of his name on the Tyne Cot Memorial, and copied Medal Index Card and casualty details.
965
Pair: Second Lieutenant D. C. Mason, 3rd Battalion, attached 1st Battalion, South Wales Borderers, who was killed in action during the attack on the Goudberg Spur, Passchendaele, on 10 November 1917
British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. D. C. Mason) good very fine (2) £80-£120
Derick Cecil Mason was born in Hapton, Lancashire, on 9 July 1894 and was educated at Burnley Grammar School before commencing work as an ‘Apprentice to Accountant’. He attested for the Royal Army Medical Corps on 26 October 1914, before transferring to the 3rd Battalion, South Wales Borderers on 1 June 1915. He was promoted Acting Corporal on 8 September 1916, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Special Reserve of Officers, attached to the 1st Battalion, South Wales Borderers, on 28 February 1917. The 1st Battalion was mostly held in reserve over the spring and summer of 1917, but it was to feature heavily later that year in the latter stages of the Third Battle of Ypres.
In early November 1917, the Third Ypres offensive had degenerated into a struggle for a ridge of high ground near Passchendaele, and the capture of a feature known as the Goudberg Spur was essential to complete the possession of this ridge. On 10 November 1917, the 1st Battalion South Wales Borderers, as part of the 3rd Brigade, was detailed to attack and hold it. The regimental history describes the difficulties: ‘The men went into action after an exhausting march, the ground was as difficult to consolidate as it was to cross, adequate artillery support had been hard to assure… Zero was at 5:00 a.m. (November 10th) and for an hour before that a barrage was put down on and just behind the German front line. But the difficulties against which the artillery had to contend in that sea of featureless mud almost surpassed those of the infantry; it was hardly wonderful if the barrage was irregular, so that our own men ran into it when the advance started. This caused several casualties… On the right the men got forward better, establishing a post close to Vocation Farm and obtaining touch with the Canadians, while D Company dug in near Virtue Farm. Vox Farm, however, they could not reach, so heavy was the machine gun fire and sniping. Before long, too, hostile counter-attacks developed.’ (The History of the South Wales Borderers 1914-18 by C. T. Atkinson refers).
The attempt was ultimately unsuccessful and extremely costly, resulting in 372 casualties among the battalion’s men, well over two- thirds of those who took part. Three officers were confirmed killed with Second Lieutenant Mason reported missing. His body was never found and in August 1919 it was concluded by the Army Council that he was killed in action on 10 November 1917. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.
Sold together with copied research including the recipient’s Medal Index Card; Short Service and Commission application forms; and a series of correspondence between Mason’s father and the War Office regarding Mason’s uncertain status.
966
Pair: Private W. L. Morris, 1st Battalion, South Wales Borderers, later Gloucester Regiment British War and Victory Medals (62547 Pte. W. L. Morris. S. Wales Bord.) nearly very fine
Pair: Private F. W. Pinkney, 1st Battalion, South Wales Borderers, later Welsh Regiment British War and Victory Medals (36614 Pte. F. W. Pinkney. S. Wales Bord.) nearly extremely fine
Pair: Private J. Brown, 1/1st (Brecknock) Battalion, South Wales Borderers British War and Victory Medals (3390 Pte. J. Brown. S. Wales Bord.) nearly extremely fine
Pair: Private T. Lewis, 6th Battalion, South Wales Borderers British War and Victory Medals (59517 T. Lewis. S. Wales Bord.) BWM abrasively polished, very fine (8) £100-£140
Sold with copied Medal Index Cards.
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