Medals from the Collection of Peter and Dee Helmore

A Great War O.B.E. group of six awarded to Major H. G. Shorto, Army Service Corps, who enlisted as a Private in the 2nd (Prince of Wales) Volunteer Battalion, Devonshire Regiment in 1892 and later went on to serve as the Senior Supply Officer to 29th Division at ‘W’ Beach (Lancashire Landing), Gallipoli, in April 1915

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E., (Military) Officer’s 1st type breast badge, silver-gilt, hallmarks for London 1919; 1914-15 Star (Major H. G. Shorto. A.S.C.); British War and Victory Medals (Major H. G. Shorto.); Volunteer Force Long Service Medal, E.VII.R. (Captain & Q. Mr: H. G. Shorto. 2/V.B. Devon Regt.); Territorial Decoration, G.V.R., silver and silver-gilt, hallmarks for London 1916 (Major H. G. Shorto. A.S.C. T.F. 1917) privately engraved naming, with integral top riband bar, mounted for wear, good very fine (6) £600-£800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Peter and Dee Helmore.

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O.B.E. London Gazette 3 June 1919:
‘For valuable services rendered during the war.’

T.D. London Gazette 6 December 1917.

Harry George Shorto was born in St Andrew, Plymouth in 1866, the son of an Examining Office, H.M. Customs. As an Ironmonger’s Assistant he enlisted as a Private in the Mounted Company, 2nd (Prince of Wales) Volunteer Battalion, Devonshire Regiment on 23 January 1892, in which unit his father was serving as the Quartermaster Sergeant. Later a Commercial Traveller in Hardware he was commissioned Quartermaster in the 2nd (Prince of Wales) Volunteer Battalion, Devonshire Regiment, on 21 February 1903 and was granted the honorary rank of Captain in August 1907. On the formation of the Territorial Force he resigned his commission on being appointed a Captain in the Devon and Cornwall Brigade Company, Wessex Divisional Transport and Supply Column, Army Service Corps, on 1 April 1908. Receiving his Volunteer Long Service Medal in August 1909, he is recorded as having attended 23 Annual Volunteer/Territorial Camps between 1892 and 1914.

Following the outbreak of the Great War Shorto was mobilised at Plymouth on 4 August 1914 and was promoted Major (Temporary) in the Wessex Divisional Train, Army Service Corps in January 1915. Seconded as Temporary Major to the Army Service Corps Regulars, he was appointed Senior Supply Officer of the 29th Division on 5 February 1915. Embarking at Avonmouth in H.M. Transport Aragon for the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on 21 March 1915, he then embarked in the SS Southland and stood in off W Beach (Lancashire Landing) under fire, at Cape Helles, Gallipoli to land ammunition on 25 April 1915 whilst the Lancashire Fusiliers famously earned 6 Victoria Crosses ‘before breakfast’.

Shorto was landed by lighter with HQ personnel on W Beach to clear a camp site for his unit and provide nightly mule convoys of supplies and ordnance, and was temporary appointed in command of the 29th Divisional Train, Lancashire Landing, on 13 June 1915. Having completed the transfer of the reserve depot to Gully Beach he commenced 6 days ‘sick leave’ on 6 August 1915 only to be invalided home 21 August 1915, aged 48. He disembarked at Devonport Dockyard on 9 September 1915 and was declared unfit for service for two months due to ‘General debility and tachycardia caused by service in Gallipoli’.

On recovery Sholto was appointed Officer Commanding, A.S.C. Lough Swilly Garrison and Sub. District (British Command) on 20 November 1915, an appointment he subsequently held until 23 January 1920 - during the Great War Lough Swilly was a principal port for receiving munitions &c. from the United States of America and transporting large quantities of gold for shipment in payment. Appointed an Officer the Military Division of the Order of the British Empire in the 1919 Birthday Honours’ List, he also received a ‘B List Mention’ for ‘valuable services rendered in connection with the war’ (The Times, 26 February 1917).

Shorto was disembodied at Lough Swilly on 24 January 1920 and retired having attained the age limit on 25 June 1921, after total service of 29 years and 154 days. A prominent Freemason and County Bowls player for Devon, he died at Plymouth on 27 July 1929, aged 62.

Sold with copied research, including an article about the recipient published in Medal News in April 2019, entitled ‘Just a weekend soldier!’.

For the recipient’s related miniature awards, see the following lot, Lot 97.

For the recipient’s father’s medals, see Lot 98.