Orders, Decorations and Medals

Black Watch, The Wauchope Medal for Gallantry, silver, the reverse inscribed ‘Pte. A. Menzies, for Conspicuous Gallantry in the Battle beyond Baghdad, March 14, 1917. Presented by Colonel A. G. Wauchope’ with single loop suspension, nearly extremely fine and rare £400-500

The 2nd Battalion, Black Watch, was commanded by Colonel A. G. Wauchope at the Battle of Mushaidie, 14 March, 1917, when the regiment almost singlehanded captured a position that others had found too hard to assault. Despite suffering a casualty rate of some 40 percent, the victory at Mushaidie stands out as the finest achievement of the Battalion in the war. The Corps Commander wrote to Colonel Wauchope: “I was indeed pleased with the attack by your regiment on the 14th. It was a fine determined attack and I think you can rank it as one of the red-letter days in the diary of your regiment during the war. You fairly routed the enemy.”

Ex Samson Collection, Glendining’s June 1991. This exact medal is illustrated in the Black Watch regimental history, written by Colonel A. G. Wauchope.