Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

1914 Star (W. Brightwell, Amer. Amb. Hosp.) good very fine £200-250

Medal entitlement confirmed on the respective extant Medal Index Card(s) wherein Orderley William Brightwell an 'Orderly' serving with the American Ambulance Hospital is confirmed as having qualified for the 1914 Star only, and having submitted a claim for the medal on 4 December 1918. There is no indication on his Medal Index Card(s), that he was ever issued or claimed the British War and Victory Medals.

William Brightwell has two forwarding addresses on the reverse of his Medal Index Card(s), viz 147 Kensington, Liverpool and 18 Ainger Road, Primrose Hill, London.

William John Cecil Brightwell was a native of St. Pancras, London, England, where he was born on 31 October 1891. The 1911 National Census for England and Wales records him as then residing with his parents and brother at the family residence at 18 Ainger Road, Primrose Hill, London, his occupation cited as 'Bank Clerk'. William Brightwell is reported to have died in Oxford, England, sometime in the last quarter of 1981.

Of the 112 1914 Stars to this unit, 87 medals were to females and 25 awarded to males. The 14 orderlies, including William Brightwell, were all male.