A Great War D.S.O. group of four awarded to Major C. Kitchin, 3rd Battalion, Middlesex Regiment

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar, obverse central medallion slightly depressed; 1914-15 Star (Capt. C. Kitchin. Midd’x R.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Major C. Kitchin.) mounted as worn, very fine (4) £800-£1,200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Jack Webb Collection of Medals and Militaria.

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Provenance: J. B. Hayward, November 1974.

D.S.O. London Gazette 3 June 1919.

Cyril Kitchin was born on 5 January 1883 and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Middlesex Regiment on 22 October 1902. He was promoted Lieutenant on 8 October 1904, and Captain on 1 April 1912. He served during the Great War with the 3rd Battalion on the Western Front from 18 January 1915, and distinguished himself at Ypres on 23 April of that year: ‘The advance was carried out, for about 250 yards, by “rushes” over absolutely open country. The first line suffered very heavy losses. From the right front the Germans raked the line of the Middlesex men with five machine guns; two or three more guns swept the advance from the left front, where within three minutes practically everyone in that portion of the firing line was killed or wounded. Colonel Stephenson fell mortally wounded and, with the help of a few survivors, the Adjutant (Captain Kitchin) carried him back to a shell hole, about 150 yards from where he was hit. Here he died. A very great loss to the Regiment.’ (The Die Hards in the Great War by Everard Wyrall refers).

Kitchin was promoted Major on 22 October 1917, and subsequently served on the Staff. For his services during the Great War he was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 5 July 1919), and awarded the Distinguished Service Order.