A Great War 1915 ‘Western Front’ D.C.M. group of four awarded to Sergeant C. Brownlow, 1st Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (8380 L. Cpl. C. Brownlow. 1/E. York: Regt); 1914 Star, with copy clasp, loose (8380 Pte C. Brownlow. 1/E. York. R.); British War and Victory Medals (8380 Sjt. C. Brownlow. E. York. R.) edge bruising, nearly very fine (4) £800-£1,000

D.C.M. London Gazette 23 June 1915:
‘For conspicuous courage and ability displayed while employed on patrolling and scouting duties, and also in erecting barbed wire.’

Charles Brownlow was born in 1889, the son of Mr and Mrs T. Brownlow of Armley, Leeds. He attested for the East Yorkshire Regiment at Beverley in August 1906, and served during the Great War with the 1st Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment in the French theatre of war from 8 September 1914. After the war he worked as a porter for the North Western Railway Company at Leeds Railway Station. Brownlow died in May 1928, and at the time was being treated as an ‘ex-service’ day patient at the High Royds Lunatic Asylum. The cause of death was given as ‘dementia paralytica’ - a mental disorder almost certainly brought on by his war service.