The Collection of Medals Formed by Bill and Angela Strong

A rare and emotive 1914 Star awarded to Company Quartermaster Serjeant John Carty, 2nd Battalion Connaught Rangers, one of the soldiers known to have been helped to evade capture by Nurse Edith Cavell; Carty was later killed in action at the Defence of Kut, 18 April 1916 - the 1914 Star was his sole award

1914 Star (6683 C.Q.M. Sjt. J. Carty, 2/Conn. Rang.) good very fine £600-700

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Bill and Angela Strong Medal Collection.

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John Carty was born in Thurles, Co. Tipperary. He enlisted on 7 July 1899, aged 14 years as a Musician in the Connaught Rangers. As Company Quartermaster Serjeant in the 2nd Battalion Connaught Rangers he entered the France/Flanders theatre of war on 14 August 1914. At Landrecies, on about 26 August, Carty became separated from the main body of his unit but managed to evade capture as the Germans advanced. With other men of his unit, Carty made his way to Brussels and thence to the Clinique on the Rue de la Culture where he became one of Edith Cavell’s ‘guests’ for about four days during April/May 1915. With her aid and those of others, Carty was safely escorted across the border to neutral Holland and thence to England.

Edith Cavell was born in Swardeston, near Norwich on 4 December 1865. She trained as a Nurse at the London Hospital under the redoubtable Matron Eva Luckes. In 1907 Cavell was recruited to be Matron of the nursing school ‘L’École Belge d’Infirmières Diplômées’ on the Rue de la Culture, Brussels. With the onset of war, the school or ‘Clinique’ as it was known, was taken over by the Red Cross.After the German occupation of Brussels, Cavell began sheltering British and allied soldiers and then smuggling them out of Belgium into Holland - some 200 soldiers being led to safety. Arrested on 3 August 1915 and charged with harbouring enemy soldiers and aiding their escape, Cavell was found guilty and sentenced to death. She was executed by firing squad at Schaerbeek on 12 October 1915.

On his return Carty was posted to the 1st Battalion Connaught Rangers and in September 1915 departed Southampton for Marseilles and thence to Basra, arriving there in January 1916. Serving at the Defence of Kut, Warrant Officer Carty was killed in action on 18 April 1916. Having no known grave, his name is commemorated on the Basra Memorial. Carty’s British War and Victory Medals were returned unclaimed. Carty is mentioned several times in the book, Edith Cavell, by Rowland Ryder - with copied extracts and other research.