Auction Catalogue

25 & 26 June 2014

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Washington Mayfair Hotel  London  W1J 5HE

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Lot

№ 250

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25 June 2014

Hammer Price:
£720

A Great War D.C.M. pair awarded to Serjeant P. Haith, 8th Battalion Royal Lancaster Regiment, killed in action, France/Flanders, 3 April 1916

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (14458 Cpl., 8/R. Lanc. R.); British War Medal 1914-20 (14458 Sjt., R. Lanc. R.) nearly extremely fine (2) £800-900

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the Royal Lancaster Regiment.

View A Collection of Medals to the Royal Lancaster Regiment

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Collection

D.C.M. London Gazette 30 March 1916. ‘For conspicuous gallantry and determination during operations. He held a grenadier post for twenty-four hours, and repulsed all enemy attacks.’

Philip Haith was born in Hulme, Manchester and enlisted at Manchester. With the Royal Lancaster Regiment he entered the France/Flanders theatre of war on 27 September 1915. As a Corporal in the 8th Battalion, on bombing service, he was awarded the D.C.M. for bravery in action at the recapture of The Bluff in the Ypres Salient on 2/3 March 1916. Immediately promoted Serjeant, he was killed in action on 3 April 1916 during the capture of No. 5 Crater near the Ypres/Commines Canal. Having no known grave, his name is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial. Details of his death were recorded in a local newspaper:

‘Gallant Sergeant Killed’ ‘The relatives of Sergeant P. Haith, of the King’s Own (Royal Lancaster) Regiment, who live in Old Elm Street, Ardwick, have been informed of his death in action. He was one of six men of his battalion who were recently awarded the D.C.M. for gallantry in the field. He was a bombing sergeant, and his officer, writing to Sergeant Haith’s sister of the tragic occurrence, says: “We were in action on the morning of the third, when we took another portion of trench. He came through the attack untouched, and it was not until late on Monday that he was hit in the thigh by a piece of shrapnel. He was one of my brightest and most cheerful men, and everyone in the company mourns his loss. His leave was due this week, and that makes it all the more hard.” Sergeant Haith, who was only twenty-two years of age, was a member of the Grosvenor Street Wesleyan Chapel. He has a brother serving in one of the Manchester City battalions.’

With copied research.