Lot 105
A 1st of July Officer Casualty – “Lung Shot out of His Back”
At Sea, On Land & In The Air | M24003
Auction: 24 September 2024 at 18:30 BST
Description
A 1st of July Officer Casualty – Family history states “Lung Shot out of His Back”, Lieutenant John Hampson Fletcher, 11th (Service) Battalion (St Helens Pioneers) South Lancashire Regiment, who was very badly wounded in the Battalion attack on Montauban on the 1st of July 1916, and who served in the Home Guard in World War Two, a pre-war Trinty College Boat Club Team Member comprising, 1914-15 Star, (Lieut: J.H. Fletcher. S. Lan: R.), 1914-1920 British War and Victory Medals, (Lieut. J.H. Fletcher.), 1939-45 Defence Medal, unnamed as issued, very fine (4)
John Hampson Fletcher was commissioned in October 1914, he has file of Officer's Papers at The National Archives. He was awarded a Silver War Badge, see Medal Index Card and he appears in the Non Effectives Register 1917.
The Medals and ephemera come directly from the family, the family story is of a lung shot out on the Somme.
11th (Service) Battalion (St Helens Pioneers). Formed in St. Helens on 1 September 1914 by Lord Derby. Moved to Bangor in February 1915. 15 May 1915 : moved to Grantham and came under command of 30th Division as its Pioneer Battalion. Adopted by War Office 15 August 1915. Moved to Larkhill in September 1915. Landed at Le Havre on 7 November 1915.
British Battalion on the Somme – Ray Westlake
11th South Lancs
At Ravine Copse, Maricourt Sector 1/7. During operations at Montauban consolidated strong points and dug 4 communication trenches across No Man's Land. To Bois des Tailles 4/7.
John was at Trinity College Oxford and was a member of the College Boat Race Team in 1914, he married Ida Kathleen Bott in 1919, his marriage certificate stating he was a Medical Student. He died in Newton Abbott, Devon on the 16th of September 1985.
Sold with 10 Original photographs one in WW1 uniform one in Home Guard Uniform. His Metal Identity Disc, a Trench Map, bloodstained of Albert, named to him and dated 1915, a silver swan vest case , Lieutenants pips, two swan fountain pens, various buttons and badges. A P17 US Remington Bayonet in scabbard, marriage certificate, WW2 identity card, copied Medal Index Card, Medal Rolls and 11th Battalion South Lancs War Diary for July 1916. A bag of miscellaneous Buttons Badges and a 1939-45 War Medal
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