Orders, Decorations and Medals

A fascinating collection of medals and papers relating to the Lloyd family:

Three: Second Lieutenant J. E. Gibson, Royal Field Artillery
British War and Victory Medals (2 Lieut.); Defence Medal, unnamed

Three: Second Lieutenant Ernest James Lindley Lloyd, The Buffs, killed in action, battle of El Alamein, 25 October 1942
1939-45 Star; Africa Star, clasp, 8th Army; War Medal 1939-45, unnamed

Four: Flight Sergeant William Desmond Lindley Lloyd, Royal Air Force, killed in action on 20 February 1944
1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; Defence and War Medals, unnamed

Pair: Leading Aircraftswoman Sheila Lindley Lloyd, Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
Defence and War Medals, unnamed, generally extremely fine (lot) £800-900

J. E. Gibson was the stepfather to the ‘Lloyd’ children below. Their natural father was a Mr Ernest Lindley Lloyd.

Group to J. E. Gibson with two mounted ‘British War and Victory’ pairs of miniature dress medals; a number of R.A. badges and buttons; a photograph of the recipient as a young officer in the Great War in an ornate metal frame (glass cracked); two other photographs of the recipient in uniform c.W.W.2; card box of issue for the Defence Medal addressed to ‘Mr J. E. Gibson, Holwood House, Rydens Road, Walton-on-Thames’, a ‘church’ letter referring to ‘Major Gibson’.

2nd Lieutenant Ernest James Lindley Lloyd, 1st Battalion The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) was killed in action on 25 October 1942, aged 22 years, during the battle of El Alamein. He was buried in the El Alamein War Cemetery.

The obituary to E. J. L. Lloyd reads: ‘Jim Lloyd was killed in action on 25th October 1942. He was a Scout Platoon Commander, and was driving in his Jeep ahead of his carriers, which were feeling their way up to the enemy positions. It was the German tactic to allow our tanks to filter through the first line of Anti-Tank Guns and then open fire on them from the rear. It later turned out that when the German guns went into action Jim Lloyd’s Platoon was well through the first line, and was in fact on the brigade objective, ahead of any of our own troops. It was early in the morning and it was still dark. As a result of the dust caused by the shell of an 88mm gun landing between his jeep and the nearest carrier the platoon lost contact with its Commander. At any rate Jim Lloyd was never seen again by his own men.

The story is continued by a trooper of an armoured Regiment whose tank had been knocked out, and who was taking cover in a slit trench. He saw in the half light a Jeep drive up to a 50mm gun position and suddenly stop. The gun crew and the occupants of the Jeep carried out a short but decisive battle with grenades, in which the two men in the Jeep fared worst. At about four o’clock in the afternoon, after our infantry had mopped up the enemy forward positions, and the Anti-Tank crew had been taken prisoner, the trooper went over to the Jeep. He was able to identify the bodies of the two dead as those of 2/Lieut. Lloyd and his batman Private Decock. ....’ In a letter to his mother, Lieuteant-Colonel Smith-Dorrien, thought that the action might have merited the award of a Victoria Cross. Before the war he was a member of staff of the Bank of London & South America Ltd., who joined the Army after leaving the Pernambuco Branch in December 1940.

Group to E. J. L. Lloyd with medal card forwarding box addressed to ‘Mrs A. E. Gibson, Holwood House, Rydens Road, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey’; named condolence slip; a number of Buff badges and pips; a number of photographs of the recipient in uniform; modern photographs of his headstone; telegram re. his death; a typescript letter written to his mother by Lieutenant-Colonel C. H. C. Smith-Dorrien, 1st Battalion, The Buffs, dated 5 May 1945, in which he describes the circumstances of his death; a typescript obituary; a small parchment document appointing ‘Ernest Lindley Lloyd of “Gwenfern”, Duppas Hill, Croydon, Surrey, an Accountant and a Citizen of London’ to the Freedom of the City of London; newspaper paper clippings; a number of letters written by E. J. L. Lloyd, whilst on active service, to his mother; map; three silver sporting trophies - two named to him.

In one of his last letters (11 October) to his mother he wrote: ‘Everything is fine out here, all itching to have another crack at Jerry and to make it a final one, so that most of us can get home and show them there how to open a second front! I wonder when it is eventually going to happen! We have been hearing about it for so long and the boys out here are becoming a little impatient! It is a source of great annoyance to the average soldier out here that there are so many Canadians and Americans in England stealing their girlfriends. The saying goes that they don't allow Englishmen in England!! .....’

Flight Sergeant (Navigator) William Desmond Lindley Lloyd, R.A.F.V.R., No. 83 Squadron, was killed in action on 20 February 1944, aged 27 years. He was buried in the Flushing (Vlissingen) Northern Cemetery. Before the war he was a member of staff of the Bank of London & South America Ltd., joining in July 1935, transferred to Brazil in 1938, who then joined the R.A.F. in September 1940 after leaving the Sao Paulo Branch.

Group to Flight Sergeant W. D. L. Lloyd with card forwarding box addressed to ‘Mrs J. E. Gibson, Holwood House, Rydens Road, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey’; with named condolence slip; R.A.F. metal badge; photograph of his head stone; a typescript letter to be sent to his mother in the event of his death in action; and a copied letter re. his death and burial; a photograph of the recipient in uniform; a number of R.A.F. buttons.

Sheila Lindley Lloyd was born on 1 March 1919. She entered the W.A.A.F. on 1 December 1941 and was released from the service in 1946, having served as a LACW in the U.K. and the Far East.

Group to Leading Aircraftswoman Sheila Lindley Lloyd with damaged card forwarding box (address removed); forwarding slip; identity bracelet inscribed, ‘S. Lindley Lloyd, W.A.A.F.’; together with a quantity of papers, including: R.A.F. Service and Release Book; R.A.F. Identity Card; National Registration Identity Card; inoculation certificate; letters from her brother Ernest and others; photographs of the recipient and others; Royal Air Force Ceylon Pass; other passes; and an invitation card - the back bearing the signatures of ‘Auckinleck’ and ‘Louis Mountbatten’.

Together with eight ‘family’ photograph albums with photographs; framed photographs (2) of Sheila Lindley Lloyd and one of her brothers; a booklet ‘Granted Leave to Join the Forces - An Account of the War Effort contributed by the Staff of the Bank of London & South America Limited’ listing the three brothers: ‘E. J. L.’, ‘P. A. L.’ and ‘W. D. L. Lloyd’, with pictures and small features on the two killed in action; and a large quantity of other letters written by and to various members of the family.