Pair: Major H. W. Stace, Suffolk Regiment, late Indian Army

British War and Victory Medals (Major) extremely fine (2) £50-70

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Brigadier Brian Parritt, C.B.E..

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Henry Watson Stace was born in 1877, the elder brother of Ralph Edward Stace (see lot 37). Commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Indian Army, 20 January 1897, he was appointed to the Indian Staff Corps on 16 March 1898 and the 2nd Rajput Regiment of Bengal Light Infantry on 25 December 1898; he was appointed a Double Company Officer of the regiment in April 1900. Living outside of India on a medical certificate during 1901, he resigned his commission in 1907. With the start of the Great War he was commissioned a Captain in the 11th (Cambridgeshire) Battalion Suffolk Regiment on 25 November 1914 and sailed with them to France on 8 January 1916. The battalion formed part of the 101st Brigade, 34th Division. On 19 May 1916 he fought with the 11th Battalion in the area of La Boiselle. An account in the regimental history reads, ‘On the 19th the battalion went into the support brigade area at [Dernancourt], with two companies under Major Farquhar in Becourt Wood. Two days later the battalion took over the right sector of the divisional front, its right resting on the northern end of Fricourt Ridge and the left facing the ruins of La Boisselle. They held this sector for two periods of six days each, with a break of four days of comparative rest. During the first of these periods “A” Company (Captain H. W. Stace) suffered severely, a section of Lieut, P. V. Emrys-Evans’ platoon being all but exterminated by a night-time bombardment of canisters, the most pernicious missiles used by the enemy in this part of the line.’ The 11th Battalion took part in the 1st day of the battle of the Somme, though Stace was no longer commanding “A” Company at the time. On 22 September 1916 he was posted to 22 Corps School. In December 1916 Stace was listed as a Captain ‘Specially Employed’. Promoted to Major on 1 May 1918, he relinquished his commission for the second time on 20 August 1919.