Three: Corporal R. Gray, 1st Battalion, Norfolk Regiment, who was killed in action during the Battle of La Bassée on 30 October 1914

1914 Star, with copy clasp (7116 L. Cpl. R. Gray. 1/Norf: R.); British War and Victory Medals (7116 Cpl. R. Gray. Norf. R.) nearly extremely fine (3) £160-£200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Barry Hobbs Collection of Great War Medals.

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Robert Gray was born at Snape, Suffolk in 1885 and attested for the Norfolk Regiment on 2 November 1905. In 1911 he was ranked Lance Corporal and stationed at Belgaum, India with the 2nd Battalion.

Gray served with the 1st Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front, arriving at Havre on 16 August. Having advanced to positions along the railway line south of the Mons Condé Canal on 23 August, the battalion was withdrawn to Dour on the 24th and later sent forward again to positions west of Elouges, with the battalion’s right on the Elouges-Quièvrain railway line and the 1st Cheshires occupying the ground west towards Audregnies. Attacked by a numerically superior enemy, Colonel Ballard ordered a retirement towards Bavai - an order which unfortunately failed to reach the Cheshires also under his command. The Norfolks lost 4 officers killed, 4 officers wounded and approximately 250 other ranks killed, wounded or missing but their short stand at Elouges and the sacrifice of the Cheshires had bought valuable time for the rest of the British Expeditionary Force during the retreat from Mons.

The 1st Norfolks were in a holding position two days later at Le Cateau and the following month fought at the Marne and the Aisne, suffering over 100 casualties in the attack on the Chivy Spur at the latter. Having moved north with his battalion in October to the La Bassée front, Corporal Gray was killed in action on 30 October 1914 during a period in which his Brigade had been holding a line just east of Festubert and Givenchy under heavy bombardments and infantry attacks. He was the son of Frederick and Mary Elizabeth Gray of Cross Street, Hoxne, Diss, Norfolk and, having no known grave, is commemorated on Le Touret Memorial, France.