Auction Catalogue

27 June 2007

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations and Medals

Washington Mayfair Hotel  London  W1J 5HE

Lot

№ 816

.

27 June 2007

Estimate: £1,200–£1,500

A Great War M.C. group of four awarded to Lieutenant R. Donaldson, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, killed in action at Inchy, 5 September 1918

Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed; 1914-15 Star (C.Z.-3821 L.S., R.N.V.R.); British War and Victory Medals (S. Lt., R.N.V.R.) extremely fine (4) £1200-1500

M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1918.

Richard Donaldson was appointed Temporary Sub-Lieutenant on 27 July 1915. He served in the Middle East with the Anson Battalion from late 1915 into 1916 and thence in France from May 1916. He was posted to the 3rd Trench Mortar Battery in July 1916 and then to the 188th Trench Mortar Battery in September. He was wounded on 13 November 1916, receiving a slight gunshot wound to the left arm and was invalided to England in November 1916, receiving treatment at the 4th London General Hospital, Denmark Hill. After a period of sick leave and a few days at the Trench Mortar School at Pirbright, he was drafted into the Anson Battalion in France, and in July 1917 was promoted to Acting Lieutenant, R.N.V.R., commanding the 188th Trench Mortar Battery. Later in the year, his bravery in action was rewarded with the award of the Military Cross. In January 1918 he was promoted to Temporary Lieutenant. Again in action, he was wounded on 4 June 1918, receiving a shot wound to the left thigh. He rejoined his unit two days later after treatment at the 3rd Stationary Hospital at Doullens. He was then on leave in England, 21 June-5 July 1918.

Lieutenant Richard Donaldson M.C., R.N.V.R., Anson Battalion, Royal Naval Division, was killed in action on 5 September 1918, aged 25 years. The previous day, the 189th Brigade, R.N.D., had been given the task of sweeping round from the north and cutting the Queant-Cambrai railway line and seize the high ground to the east of Queant. This was accomplished and the next step was an advance on Inchy, capturing on the way a substantial part of the Hindenburg support line. It was here that C.P.O. George Prowse, D.C.M., of the Drake Battalion, was gain the Victoria Cross. On 5 September, the Germans launched a ferocious counter offensive to retake Inchy, and it was during the fierce fighting that Lieutenant Donaldson was killed. He was buried in the Croisilles Railway Cemetery. Lieutenant Donaldson was the son of Richard and Margaret Frew Donaldson, of 20 Jardine Street, Glasgow. Before the war (1910-14) he had been a student at Glasgow University. Sold with copied service papers.