Orders, Decorations and Medals

An exceptional 1914 Victoria Cross, M.M. and Russian Cross of St George group of ten awarded to Drummer (later Company Sergeant Major) S. J. ‘Joe’ Bent, 1st Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment

Victoria Cross, the reverse of the suspension bar inscribed ‘Drummer S. J. Bent, 1st Battn. E. Lancashire Regt.’, the upper reverse arm of the cross dated ‘22 & 24 Oct.’, and the reverse centre of the cross dated ‘1-2-3 Nov. 1914’; Military Medal, G.V.R. (8581 C.S. Mjr., V.C. 1/E. Lanc. R.); 1914 Star, with clasp (8581 Dmr., 1/E. Lan. R.); British War and Victory Medals (8581 W.O. Cl.2, E. Lan. R.); Defence Medal; Coronation 1937; Coronation 1953; Army L.S. & G.C., G.V.R. (3377564 W.O. Cl.II, V.C. M.M. E.Lan.R.); Russian Cross of St George, 3rd class, the reverse officially numbered ‘No. 16 682’, mounted court style as last worn by the recipient, the Victoria Cross good very fine, the remainder polished, therefore good fine or better (10) £50000-60000

See Colour Illustration on back cover.

Victoria Cross London Gazette 9 December 1914: Drummer Spencer John Bent, 1st Battalion, the East Lancashire Regiment. ‘For conspicuous gallantry near Le Gheir, on the night of 1-2 Nov. 1914, when, after his officer, platoon sergeant and section commander had been struck down, he took command, and with great presence of mind and coolness succeeded in holding the position. Drummer Bent had previously distinguished himself on two occasions, 22 and 24 Oct., by bringing up ammunition, under a heavy shell and rifle fire, and again on the 3rd Nov., when he brought into cover some wounded men who were lying exposed in the open.’

Military Medal London Gazette 17 June 1919.

Russian Cross of St George London Gazette 25 August 1915.

The following extract is taken from Deeds That Thrill The Empire and provides a more graphic account of the several acts of bravery which led to the award of the Victoria Cross:

‘On the night of 1-2 November 1914, a platoon of the 1st East Lancashires, one of the battalions of the 11th Brigade, posted on the left of our 3rd Corps, was holding one of the first-line trenches near Le Gheir, which on the previous day the 4th Division had taken over from the right flank of the 1st Cavalry Division. Drummer Spencer John Bent, who had been having a particularly strenuous time of it of late, had gone to a dug-out to get some sleep. Scarcely, however, had he dozed off, than he was awakened by the sound of men hurrying up and down the trench, and, starting up, discovered that his comrades were abandoning it. There was no officer in the trench, and the platoon sergeant having gone to visit an advance post, someone had passed the word down the line that the battalion was to retire, and the men were obeying what they believed to be their orders. Bent started to follow them, but remembering that he had left behind him a French trumpet, which he had picked up and carried about with him for some time, he decided to risk the chance of a bullet rather than lose it, and went back to fetch it. When he got into the trench, he caught sight of a man crawling towards him round the corner of a traverse. Thinking that he was a German, he waited until he had come close to him, and then, holding his rifle to his head, demanded who he was. He found that he was his platoon sergeant, who told him that no orders to retire had been given. Bent at once jumped out of the trench, and ran after his comrades to call them back. While thus engaged, an officer came up, and, on learning what had happened, told him to fetch some of the men back while he went after the others. Eventually they brought them all back and awaited developments.

In the early morning the German artillery shelled them for a few minutes, after which the infantry, evidently under the pleasing illusion that the trench had been abandoned and that they had only to walk in and take possession, advanced in mass formation, doing the goose-step. Our men reserved their fire, and meantime a machine-gun was brought up and placed in position. When the unsuspecting Huns were about four hundred yards off, machine-gun and rifle fire was poured into them, mowing them down in heaps and speedily changing their stately goose-step into an undignified scramble for cover. But very soon afterwards the East Lancashires found themselves exposed to a heavy and continuous bombardment from every description of gun, and the officer, platoon sergeant and a number of men were struck down. Drummer Bent then took command of the platoon, and with great courage, coolness and presence of mind, succeeded in holding the position, and in repelling more than one attack by the enemy, until he was relieved later in the day. Bent’s gallant conduct on this occasion was preceded and followed by several other acts of conspicuous bravery.

On 22 October he carried ammunition to a patrol who had been cut off by the enemy. Two days later he brought up food and ammunition to a first-line trench under a very heavy shell and rifle fire; while on 3 November he brought in several wounded men who were lying exposed in the open. One of these men, Private McNulty, he rescued in a singular manner, though it would appear to have been one which this resourceful young hero had employed with success on other occasions. McNulty had fallen some thirty yards from the British trench, and in attempting to lift the wounded man on to his back, Bent slipped and fell. While lying on the ground, several bullets whistling just over him warned him that to rise again would be to court almost certain death. And so, instead of getting up, he adroitly hooked his feet under McNulty’s arm-pits, and, working his way backward with his hands, dragged him to our trench, where he left the wounded man in charge of a comrade and went off to fetch a surgeon to attend to him.’

Spencer John Bent was born at the Pickerel Inn, Stowmarket, Suffolk, on 18 March 1891. His father was killed during the Boer War, whilst serving with the Royal Horse Artillery, and the young Bent was brought up by his uncle and aunt at Witnesham, near Ipswich. In 1905, at the age of 14, Spencer Bent joined the Army as a Drummer in the East Lancashire Regiment. Soon after joining the Army, Bent took up boxing and later acquired his adopted name ‘Joe’, a parody on a well known northern professional boxer who went by the name of “Chow” Bent. It was a name which remained with him until his death in 1977.

Bent arrived in France on 22 August, 1914, and saw his first action at Le Cateau and the subsequent retirement from there to the Marne. It was during the first battle of Ypres that he won his Victoria Cross, but not without cost to himself. He was severely wounded by a gunshot in the leg, received shrapnel injuries to both arms and hands, and was slightly wounded in the head. He was sent back to England, and spent several months under close medical care. It was not until his V.C. had been announced in the London Gazette and published in his local newspaper that Bent learned of his award, the first to be won by the East Lancashire Regiment in the Great War. He was one of three Victoria Cross heroes to be awarded with an inscribed gold watch by the Musicians’ Company; and he received an award of £50 offered by Mr T. Curtis, an Ipswich resident, to the first man from that town who should win the Victoria Cross. Joe Bent received his Victoria Cross from King George V, at an investiture at Buckingham Palace, on 13 January 1915.

Having been promoted to Corporal, Bent assisted in the national recruitment programme for six months, following which, in the Summer of 1915, he was promoted to Sergeant. In 1916, he returned to France and joined up once more with his old battalion on the Somme where he remained until November, 1916, when the privations of trench warfare again took their toll and he again returned to England for a period of convalescence. He was back in France in January 1917, this time with the 7th battalion of his regiment, and took part in the battles of Messines Ridge and Passchendaele. He rejoined the 1st battalion in time for the German spring offensive of 1918, and the subsequent battles of the summer and autumn. In the fighting around the village of Sepmeries, east of Cambrai, Company Sergeant Major Bent won the Military Medal, particularly for leading two patrols which were sent out to gain touch with the enemy on the afternoon of the 29th October. The 1st Battalion was withdrawn from active operations on the 2nd November, and Bent finally returned to England in May 1919. He received his L.S. & G.C. medal in 1923 and left the Army in 1926. In civilian life Joe Bent became a schoolkeeper in London, and later a Commissionaire. He frequently attended regimental and Victoria Cross Association dinners, and was on parade for the Centenary of the Victoria Cross Review in Hyde Park before H.M. The Queen, on 26 June 1956. Joe Bent died peacefully on 3rd May, 1977, at 86 years of age.

The lot is accompanied by the recipient’s Old Contemptibles Association badge (No. 1641), Sir Alfred Butt’s Invitation to V.C’s badge in silver-gilt (C.S.M. S. J. Bent V.C.), his Princess Mary’s Christmas 1914 Gift Fund Box, and a very fine large portrait photograph. Additional research includes a copy of Drummer Spencer John Bent, V.C. by H. L. Kirby and R. R. Walsh, from which much of the above information is taken.