Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War ‘Western Front’ D.C.M. group of four awarded to Serjeant William Martin Brown, 7th Battalion Canadian Infantry

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (77355 Pte., 7/Can. Inf.); 1914-15 Star (77355 Pte., 7/Can. Inf.); British War and Victory Medals (77355 Sjt., 7-Can. Inf.) mounted court style for wear; together with Canadian Memorial Cross, G.V.R. (77355 Sgt. W. Brown, D.C.M.) very fine and better (5) £1000-1200

D.C.M. London Gazette 13 February 1917. ‘For conspicuous gallantry in action. He displayed great coolness in handling a very difficult situation. Later, he carried out a valuable reconnaissance under heavy fire.’

William Martin Brown was born on 19 April 1886 in Uphall, Linlithgowshire, Scotland. Living in Cumberland, Vancouver Island and a Carpenter by occupation, he attested for the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force at Victoria, British Columbia, on 11 November 1914, having previously served 6 years with the Royal Scots. From the 30th Battalion he was transferred to the 7th Battalion in April 1915 and was shortly afterwards posted to France. In April 1916, as a Lance-Corporal, he was tried by Court Martial for ‘leaving his Guard without orders from a superior officer’; convicted, he was reduced to the ranks. On 9 September 1916 when serving with the 7th Battalion on the Pozières Ridge, during the battle of the Somme, he received a gun shot wound to the scalp and was invalided to England where he was treated at the Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge, followed by convalescence at Woodcote Park, Epsom. For his conspicuous gallantry in action he was awarded the D.C.M. Brown attained the rank of Sergeant on 29 October 1917 and returned to the 7th Battalion in France only on 8 November 1918. Serving in France until 15 February 1919, he was discharged in Canada on 25 April 1919. Following his death on 14 December 1936, Canadian Memorial Crosses were applied for and awarded to his wife - Mrs Catherine Brown of Pleasent Valley Mining Company, Princeton, B.C., and to his mother, Mrs Sarah Jane Brown, of Cumberland, B.C. Sold with a quantity of copied research.