Pair: Private W. White, Royal Newfoundland Regiment, who was killed in action during the First Day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916

British War and Victory Medals (739 Pte. W. White. R. Newf’d R.) generally very fine or better

Victory Medal 1914-19 (586 Pte. J. J. Hickey. R. Newf’d R.); together with Memorial Plaque (Alfred Perry) last in card envelope of issue, generally very fine (4) £400-£500

Willis White was born in New Harbour, Newfoundland in June 1896. He was a Lumberman by trade, and resided at Comfort Cove, Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland. White served during the Great War with the 1st Battalion, Royal Newfoundland Regiment on the Western Front. Private White was killed in action during the First Day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916, and is commemorated on the Beaumont-Hamel (Newfoundland) Memorial, Somme, France.

The 29th Division included the 1st Battalion of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, as it was then called. The attack on Beaumont-Hamel in July 1916 was the first severe engagement of the regiment, and the most costly. On the first day of the Battle of the Somme, no unit suffered heavier losses than the Newfoundland Regiment which had gone into action 801 strong. The roll call the next day revealed that the final figures were 233 killed or dead of wounds, 386 wounded, and 91 missing. Every officer who went forward in the Newfoundland attack was either killed or wounded. For this reason, the government of Newfoundland chose the hill south-west of the village, where the front-line trenches ran at the time of the battle, as the site of their memorial to the soldiers (and also to the sailors) of Newfoundland.

John Joseph Hickey was born in Newfoundland, and was the son of Patrick Hickey of 119 Bond Street, St. John’s, Newfoundland. Hickey served during the Great War with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment on the Western Front.

Alfred Perry - there are several men of this name listed on the CWGC website, one of whom served as 1273 Private, 1st Battalion, Royal Newfoundland Regiment. The latter was wounded on the First Day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916, and wounded again later on the Somme leading to both of his legs being amputated. Private Perry died of these wounds on 21 January 1917, and is buried in Guards’ Cemetery, Lesboeufs, France.