Corporal A. Hutt, V.C., Royal Warwickshire Regiment

Silver Cigarette Case, 85 x 68mm., presented to Cpl. Arthur Hutt V.C., foliate engine turned decoration, the top engraved ‘Corporal Hutt V.C., Oct 4 1917’, gilt interior, hallmarks for Birmingham 1916, possibly presented by the Mayor of Coventry, good condition £120-150

V.C. London Gazette 26 November 1917. ‘For most conspicuous bravery and initiative in attack, when all the officers and non-commissioned officers of No. 2. Platoon having become casualties, Private Hutt took command of and led forward the platoon. He was held up by a strong post on his right, but immediately ran forward alone in front of the platoon and shot the officer and three men in the post, causing between forty and fifty others to surrender. Later, realising that he had pushed to far, he withdrew his party. He peronally covered the withdrawal by sniping the enemy, killing a number, and then carried back a badly wounded man and put him under shelter. Privatt Hutt then organised and consolidated his position, and learning that some wounded men were lying out and likely to become prisoners if left there, no stretcher-bearers being available, he went out and carried in four wounded men under heavy fire’.

See also lot 1190.