The Barry Hobbs Collection of Great War Medals 3
Three: Trooper W. Hawkins, 2nd Life Guards, who was killed in action during the Household Cavalry’s stand at Zandvoorde Ridge, during the First Battle of Ypres, 29-30 October 1914
1914 Star, with later slide clasp (2843 Tpr. W. Hawkins. 2/Life Gds.); British War and Victory Medals (2843 Tpr. W. Hawkins. 2-L. Gds.) good very fine (3)
£260-£300
William Hawkins was born in 1883 at Fittleworth, Sussex and attested for the 2nd Life Guards at Petworth in June 1912. At the outbreak of war the regiment was stationed at Regent’s Park and, not being part of the Squadron provided for the Composite Regiment of Household Cavalry which entered France on 16 August 1914, served with the Regiment itself (B Squadron), entering France on 9 October and forming part of the 7th Household Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Division. He would have been present at the Battle of Langemarck, 21-24 October 1914 and he was recorded for official purposes to have been killed in action on or since 29 October 1914 during the action at Zandvoorde which concluded with the loss of Lord Worsley’s Machine-Gun Section in a famous bloody last stand with the Royal Horse Guards on 30 October.
A note in the recipient’s service file provides the following further information, ‘Went out to France in the early part of October 1914, reported wounded and prisoner of war but could never be traced. After two years reported missing presumed to have been killed on 30 October 1914.’
Bombardment and onslaught at Zandvoorde
‘Kavanagh’s 7th Cavalry Brigade was at the very centre of a most determined attack, supported by some 250 guns, delivered by the first of the new German Reserve divisions. These consisted in large part of ‘the flower of the youth of Germany, middle- and upper class students’, under military-age volunteers, hardly trained but burning with patriotism. Their assault fell chiefly upon the Household Cavalry’s elementary trench lines at Zandvoorde. The artillery barrage dropped on these and on the zone immediately behind them from 6.45 till 8 a.m. It and the following onslaught were so ferocious and concentrated that two squadrons and a machine-gun section suffered almost total extinction. Ernest Hook, a surviving Lifeguardsman, recalled that there was ‘no protection from the shelling as our trenches were on the forward slope and in full view of the enemy and although our gunners put up a great show, they were no match for Jerry’s heavy stuff. We could see their infantry in great masses about 1,000 yards away. Just about then I was hit by a shell that nearly took my left arm off and my officer sent me to the rear. It was the end of the war for me.’ (A History of the British Cavalry 1816 -19 volume 7 by the Marquess of Anglesey refers)
William Hawkins was the son of Annie Hawkins of 120 Upper St., Fittleworth, Sussex and the late William Hawkins and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium. He is also named on the Household Cavalry Monument at Zanvoorde.
4 Three: Trooper W. Oliver, 2nd Life Guards
1914 Star, with clasp (2291 Tpr. W. Oliver. 2/Life Gds.); British War and Victory Medals (2291 Tpr. W. Oliver. 2-L. Gds.) mounted as worn, good very fine (3)
£200-£300
William Oliver was born in 1881 at Shorne, Kent and resided at Dartford, Kent. He attested for the 2nd Life Guards at Regents Park Barracks in October 1900 and served with the colours until October 1912. Following the outbreak of the Great War he was recalled from the Section D Reserve and, not being part of the Squadron provided for the Composite Regiment of Household Cavalry which entered France on 16 August 1914, he served with the Regiment itself, entering France on 8 October and forming part of the 7th Household Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Division.
The 2nd Life Guards went on to be heavily involved at the First Battle of Ypres (October – November 1914) including at Langemarck, 21-24 October and in the Household Cavalry’s stand at Zandvoorde Ridge, 30 October; Second Ypres (April-May 1915); Loos (September-October 1915) and Arras (April 1917). On 10 March 1918, it was detached from the 3rd Cavalry Division, with which it had served from August 1914 and was formally dismounted and converted into the No 2 (2nd Life Guards) Battalion of the Guards Machine Gun Regiment on 10 March 1918. Trooper Oliver was transferred to the Home Establishment on 17 May 1918 and was Demobilized ‘Class Z’ on 9 January 1919.
Sold together with a silver presentation cigarette case (hallmarks for Birmingham 1908), engraved to the front with a 2nd Life Guards motif and on the reverse engraved, ‘Presented to Trooper W. Oliver, by his comrades, “C” Squadron, 2nd Life Guards. July 1909.’; a rolled gold pendant with portrait photographs of the recipient and an infant in naval costume in lunettes to obverse and reverse respectively, 30mm diameter; and an illuminated foolscap card certificate, creased, with central photograph of the recipient in the ceremonial uniform of the Life Guards and with the words, ‘This is to certify that No. 2291, Rank: Trooper. Name: W. Oliver, has served with the Second Life Guards during the Great European War, 1914-1919.’
5
Three: Lance-Corporal F. H. T. Burfield, Royal Horse Guards (The Blues), who was killed in action near Brielen during the First Battle of Ypres on 19 November 1914
1914 Star, with clasp (1475 Cpl. F. Burfield. R. H. Gds:); British War and Victory Medals (1475 Tpr. F. H. T. Burfield. R. H. Gds.) with named lid from card box of issue, extremely fine (3)
£260-£300
Frank Henry Thomas Burfield was born in 1891 at Bow, Middlesex and attested for the Royal Horse Guards in August 1911 at Westminster, Middlesex, advancing to Lance Corporal on 31 August 1914. He served with them during the Great War on the Western Front from 7 October 1914 as part of the 7th Household Cavalry Brigade in the 3rd Cavalry Division. Having been heavily engaged at Zandvoorde, concluding with the loss of Lord Worsley’s Machine- Gun Section in a famous bloody last stand with the Life Guards on 30 October, the Royal Horse Guards remained in the Ypres Sector during November and Lance Corporal Burfield was killed in action near Brielen, just north west of Ypres on 19 November.
He was the son of Edmund C. and Amelia Burfield of Market Place, New Barnet, Hertfordshire and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium. He is also named on the Household Cavalry Monument at Zanvoorde.
Sold with a copied portrait photograph of the recipient in uniform.
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