Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry 137
A post-War ‘Diplomatic Wireless Service’ M.B.E. group of six awarded to Mr Arthur Halestrap, late Sapper, Royal Engineers, afterwards Royal Signals and Special Operations Executive, one of the last surviving British soldiers of the First World War who died in 2004, aged 105
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Civil) Member’s 2nd type breast badge, silver; British War and Victory Medals (316620 Spr. A. Halestrap. R.E.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45; France, Fifth Republic, Order of the Legion of Honour, Chevalier’s breast badge, silver, silver-gilt and enamels, the first five mounted as worn, very fine or better (6)
£300-£500 M.B.E. London Gazette 8 June 1963: ‘Arthur Halestrap, Esq., Senior Executive Officer, Foreign Office.’
Arthur Halestrap was born in Southampton on 8 September 1898. In his youth he walked the decks of the Titanic before she sailed. He tried to enlist in the British armed forces shortly after the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. His request was refused on account of his youth. However, in September 1916, he joined the Royal Engineers Signal Division and was sent to France in January 1918. After the First World War, Halestrap was employed by the Trans-Oceanic department of Marconi and worked with Cyril Evans, who had been the Californian’s wireless operator on the night of the Titanic disaster. At this time he was living in Black Notley in Essex with his wife Gladys Gwendoline.
In the Second World War, he was commissioned into the Royal Corps of Signals. From 1942, he was seconded to the Special Operations Executive, which had been established to support the Resistance movements in German-occupied Europe and to carry out acts of sabotage. He did not leave England, however, and at one point was the chief signals officer at Grendon Underwood, one of the principal centres for communication with S.O.E. agents on the Continent.
At the end of the war in Europe, Halestrap went to Germany as a member of the Allied Control Commission, but after a motor accident he returned to England to join the Diplomatic Wireless Service. In 1963 he was appointed M.B.E. for his work with this organisation, from which he retired in 1970 at the age of 72.
For the last 20 years of his life he attended the memorial service for the fallen of the First World War at the Menin Gate, and in 1988 he received the French Legion of Honour in company with all the small band of surviving veterans who had fought in France in 1914-18. He kept in touch with the former comrades in the S.O.E., attending the reunions of the Henley Signals Unit whenever possible.
He continued to appear on television documentaries into his extremely old age. In 2003, aged 105, he was the only British veteran of the First World War to attend the Armistice Day Ceremony in Ypres, where he rose from his wheelchair and, in a clear and strong voice, recited Laurence Binyon’s poem ‘For the Fallen’. Along with Harry Patch and a few others, he was featured in the 2003 television series World War 1 in Colour as well as the Last Tommy on B.B.C. 1 after his death in 2005.
His wife, son and daughter all predeceased him. His son John, a 20-year old R.A.F. navigator, was killed within two months of the end of the Second World War. Arthur Halestrap died on 1 April 2004, in Kings Sutton, Northamptonshire, where he had moved to in the 1960s.
www.dnw.co.uk all lots are illustrated on our website and are subject to buyers’ premium at 24% (+VAT where applicable)
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168
