Orders, Decorations and Medals

A Great War M.M. pair awarded to Sergeant J. Hurley 1/5th East Lancashire Regiment, later murdered after attending a fascist rally

Military Medal, G.V.R. (240065 Sjt., 1/5 E. Lanc. R.-T.F.); British War Medal (240065 Sjt., E. Lan. R.) very fine and better (2) £200-300

M.M. London Gazette 4 February 1918.

Joseph Hurley was born at Church, near Accrington, Lancashire, and enlisted into the 1/5th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, in January 1912. He volunteered for overseas service in August 1914 and subsequently served in Egypt, Gallipoli, where he was wounded, Sinai, and France and Flanders, being recommended for a commission following a trench bombing raid, for which he was awarded the Military Medal. On 21 December 1934 he attended, as an anti-fascist, a fascist demonstration on Broadway in Accrington. Trouble arose and a fight ensued during which Hurley was knocked down and, whilst on the ground, was kicked, receiving injuries from which he later died. A fascist representative named William Hodson, known locally as “Bronco Bill”, stood trial at Manchester assizes and was sentenced to death on 6 March 1935. He was, however, given a reprieve and a life sentence substituted. Sold with a file of related research, copy newspaper reports and a Police magazine article on this tragic story.