Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry
‘On the morning of the 27th of October we once again occupied our old position, moving up from the communication trench and manning our own fire-bays. The trenches were hardly recognisable as such in places where large shells had blown them to ground level. Bodies of British and German dead lay everywhere, and shattered rifles, blood stained equipment, and other debris were scattered about. The smell of the unburied filled our nostrils, and mangled and soiled corpses presented unspeakable sights...Once more lines of German infantry, apparently inexhaustible, came over the field of dead, and again those of us still sound stood up to stave them off, but our strong ranks of riflemen were gone, and our weak fire caused alarmingly few casualties. The enemy swarmed everywhere in sight, and wearily, with bloodshot eyes and tired limbs, we destroyed them, shooting at one group, until we saw another threateningly nearer. We shot and shot, and we stopped them once more in the company front, but they got in on the left, and to some purpose. Fugitives from the left company joined us, saying that the Germans had overrun them and were now in their trench, and presently we were horrified to see large numbers of field-grey soldiers moving steadily over the ground behind us, and then we found ourselves once again surrounded, and under German fire from front and rear...On the left the Germans had not captured all the trench of the other company, for several groups of our men, though surrounded on all sides held out in their own fire-bays.’
In need of medical attention, Browne was sent home to convalesce at a military hospital in England for three months and promoted to Captain on 16 May 1915. It is not known if he was able to return to the front but his Silver War Badge for soldiers discharged because of wounds or sickness was despatched on 17 October 1916, the roll giving his address as The Hall, Rushbrook, Bury St. Edmunds. In the 1939 Register he is listed as retired with a life pension as a Captain in the Royal Irish Rifles and an A.R.P. volunteer in emergency transport, Chelsea Town Hall, Army Officers Reserve.
29
A Great War 1916 ‘Battle of Loos’ M.C. group of five awarded to Captain J. W. Jack, 173rd Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers, later Lieutenant-Colonel, South African Forces, who was wounded at Loos on 30 June 1916, and subsequently commanded the N.E.R. Battalion during the Second World War
Military Cross, G.V.R., reverse contemporarily engraved ‘Capt. John W. Jack, R.E. Loos 1916.’, on original mounting pin, in case of issue; 1914-15 Star (2. Lieut. K. W. Jack. R.E.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. J. W. Jack.) BWM unofficially renamed; Africa Service Medal, with King’s Commendation protea flower emblem (N.N. (ACF) J. W. Jack) the four campaign medal mounted as worn; together with two Royal College of Science bronze prize medals, both in fitted cases of issue, very fine and better (7)
£1,000-£1,400
M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1917. King’s Commendation Government Gazette 13 June 1946.
John William Jack was born in Southampton on 1 December 1891, and was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Southampton, and the Royal School of Mines, London. From 1913 to 1915 he acted as Assistant Manager to a mine in Cornwall, before enlisting in the 14th (London Scottish) Battalion, London Regiment, in April 1915. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 29 October 1915 and served with the 173rd Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers during the Great War on the Western Front from 19 November 1915. He was wounded by a shell to the face and left arm at the Double Crassier near Loos on 30 June 1916- given the inscription on the reverse of his M.C., and the date on which the award was announced in the London Gazette, it is likely that it was for this action that Jack received his Military Cross.
Recovering from his wounds in late 1916, Jack returned to the Front and subsequently commanded “A” Company, 173rd Tunnelling Company, who distinguished themselves during the March Retreat, 1918: ‘It will be seen that “A” Company - comprising the greater portion of 173rd Tunnelling Company - had fought as infantry for several successive days. They had successfully carried out one of the most difficult of all military operations - a rear-guard action. They had stood up to enemy attacks of all kinds without flinching, had never lost their nerve, had suffered casualties, but had never fallen back without orders. It is almost comic to record that, three years previously, the men of this company had sent a deputation to their commanding officer, protesting that drill of any kind was not included in their contract!’ (Tunnellers by Captain W. Grant Grieve and Bernard Newman refers).
Jack saw further service during the Second World War as Commanding Officer of the N.E.R. Battalion, South African Forces (with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel), and received a King’s Commendation.
Sold with named King’s Commendation Certificate, this housed in a glazed display frame; a caricature portrait of the recipient, dated 1941, this similarly housed in a glazed display frame; the original telegram from the Lord Chamberlain regarding the investiture for the M.C.; four original civilian-era photographs; and a quantity of copied research.
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