Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War M.C. group of three awarded to Captain L. V. Sutton, 2nd Central Ontario Regiment, C.E.F.

Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; British War and Victory Medals (Capt. L. V. Sutton.) the Victory Medal officially re-impressed, good very fine (3) £600-800

M.C. London Gazette 11 January 1919.

‘Lt. Leonard Victor Sutton, 116th Bn., Can. Inf., 2nd Cent. Ont. Regt. During an attack on a wood, when his company commander became a casualty, he immediately took command and led them to the final objective, in spite of strong opposition and a dense fog which made it extremely difficult to maintain direction. His personal endurance encouraged his men to press on, and his skill in handling them resulted in the capture of many machine-guns and prisoners.’

Leonard Victor Sutton was born at Bradford, Ontario, on 3 March 1897. He was educated at Bradford Public and High schools and attended University College, Toronto University, where he was a member of the C.O.T.C. He was appointed Lieutenant in October 1915 and promoted to Captain in September 1918. He served with the 126th Battalion and 109th Battalion in Canada and England from October 1915 to December 1916. He transferred to the 116th Battalion (2nd Central Ontario Regiment) and served in England from December 1916 to February 1917, and then in France until the end of the war. He took part in operations at Arras 1917, Vimy 1917, Hill 70, Ypres 1917, Passchendaele, Arras 1918, Scarpe, Drocourt-Queant, Hindenburg Line, Canal du Nord, and Cambrai 1918. He was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry at Amiens on 8 August 1918, as detailed in his citation above.

Demobilised in March 1919, Captain Sutton returned to Canada where he read law with Ross & Holmested and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1923. Subsequently a partner in Holmested, Sutton, Hill & Kemp (established 1925) he was appointed King’s Council in 1945 and Queen’s Council in 1952.