The Barry Hobbs Collection of Great War Medals 70


Three: Captain and Adjutant R. E. Drake, 1st Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, who was mortally wounded during a successful attempt made by the battalion to capture a German battery at the Battle of the Marne on 8 September 1914, and was posthumously Mentioned in Despatches


1914 Star, with later slide clasp (Capt: & Adjt: R. E. Drake. Linc. R.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. R. E. Drake.) nearly extremely fine (3)


£800-£1,200 M.I.D. London Gazette 20 October 1914 .


Robert Edward Drake, the son of the Rev. John Drake, was born at Great Wratting, Suffolk in 1878. He was educated at Lancing College, Sussex and was in the 3rd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment (Militia) from 1899-1900. In April of the latter year he received a commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, becoming Lieutenant in May 1902 and Captain in August 1912.


He was appointed Adjutant of his battalion in November 1913 and following the outbreak of the Great War arrived in France as part of the original British Expeditionary Force on 13 August 1914. Having fought at Mons and Le Cateau, his battalion stopped retreating at Liverdy, outside Paris on 5 September and three days later had re-crossed the Marne and arrived at the village of Bezu.


Here, Captain Drake was mortally wounded as C and D Companies attacked and captured German guns west of the village. The regimental history provides the following details: ‘Whilst the 1st Lincolnshire was halted in a field near Bezu, Lieut.-Colonel Smith, commanding the battalion, received a message from the Brigade, informing him that “a German battery was doing serious damage by shelling our column approaching the Marne,” and telling him to try and capture it. The country north of the Marne is very hilly and wooded. In fact, the 14th Brigade of the 5th Division, “was swallowed up by the woods for more than an hour.” (Official History Vol. 4 pp. 289, 290.) Lieut.-Colonel Smith, with two companies, C and D, worked through the woods west of Bezu, crept up to within one hundred and fifty yards of the guns and shot down the German gunners, and their escort, almost to a man. Dashing out of the thicket to secure the guns, however, they were fired upon by the 65th (Howitzer) Battery, and compelled again to seek cover with a loss of four officers [Drake killed and 3 wounded] and some thirty men killed or wounded. This unfortunate mistake arose from the 65th Battery believing that the German battery had been silenced by some other British artillery and that the men of the Lincolnshire were German gunners returning to their abandoned guns. The guns were removed by the 5th Divisional Ammunition Column next morning and removed to Coulommiers, whence they were despatched to England. One of the guns was formerly to be seen at the Royal United Service Institution, but was removed to the depot of the Regiment at Lincoln in 1928.’ (The History of the Lincolnshire Regiment 1914-1918 edited by Major-General C. R. Simpson, C.B. refers)


Initially buried nearby by an unknown British officer, Drake’s remains were later exhumed and, having been formally identified by his Lincolnshire Regiment collar badges and spurs and his boots made by J. J. Lillington of 88 High St. Portsmouth, were re-interred in November 1920 in Bezu-le-Guery Communal Cemetery, France. A plaque to his memory is in St. Mary’s Church, Great Wratting.


71


Three: Private J. Clark, 1st Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, who was killed in action at Vailly during the Battle of the Aisne on 15 September 1914


1914 Star, with clasp (7829 Pte. J. Clarke. [sic] 1/Linc: R.); British War and Victory Medals (7829 Pte. J. Clark. Linc. R.); Memorial Plaque (Joseph Clark) nearly extremely fine (4)


£240-£280


Joseph Clark was born in Tattershall, Lincolnshire and attested there for the Lincolnshire Regiment in 1906. He embarked for India with the 2nd Battalion in December 1908, was with the 1st Battalion at Aden in 1911 and served with the 1st Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 13 August 1914. Having fought at Mons, Le Cateau, the Retreat from Mons, and the Marne, the 1st Lincolnshire Regiment crossed the Aisne at Vailly on 13 September and took up positions on the ridge south west of Rouge Maison Farm where, the following day, they were attacked by ‘wave after wave’ of the enemy. Major-General Simpson in his regimental history noted how many of the Battalion’s rifles had become clogged with mud, making rapid defensive fire difficult. After a successful counter attack by B and D Companies, supported by the 4th Royal Fusiliers, escalating casualty rates forced the battalion to fall back across the river to a railway cutting. Here the survivors were heavily shelled and later returned north of the river to Vailly. Over 180 officers and men were killed, wounded or missing as a result of the encounter. The following day, 15 October 1914, Private Clark was one of 5 men of the battalion officially regarded as having been killed as the battalion moved forward again to support positions north of Vailly.


Joseph Clark’s positively identified remains were exhumed from an unmarked grave at Vailly-sur-Aisne on 7 March 1923 and reburied by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission at Vailly British Cemetery, France.


72


Three: Private F. Norman, 1st Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, who was reported missing, presumed dead, following a counter attack on Wytschaete on 1 November 1914


1914 Star, with clasp (7865 Pte. F. Norman. 1/Linc: R.); British War and Victory Medals (7865 Pte. F. Norman. Linc. R.); Memorial Plaque (Frederick Norman) neat holes drilled in the plaque at 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock for mounting, otherwise extremely fine (4)


£240-£280


Frederick Norman was born in 1886 at Bow Brickhill, Bletchley, Buckinghamshire and attested for the Lincolnshire Regiment in 1906. He served in the 1st Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 13 August 1914 and was reported missing, presumed dead on or since 1 November 1914.


His battalion had already fought and incurred heavy casualties (unusually for a single battalion) at all the major battles of 1914 - Mons, Le Cateau, the Marne, the Aisne, la Bassée, Messines and Armentières - prior to their taking part in a counter attack on Wytschaete on 1 November 1914 as the Battle of Messines began to merge with the First Battle of Ypres.


Private Norman was deemed, for official purposes, to have been killed in action on 1 November 1914. The son of George and Annie Norman of Bow Brickhill, Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, he has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.


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