Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Royal Humane Society, small bronze medal (successful) (Cpl. W. Hall, 28th Sept. 1913) minor edge bruising, very fine £140-180

‘At 3.30pm on 28 August 1913 an old man of 65 threw himself into the canal at Upper Mill, Yorks. The canal at that point was 10 feet deep and the water was foul. Lance-Corporal Walter Hall, 7th Bn West Riding Regiment, jumped in and caught him but failed to get him out and he was drowned.’ (ref. R.H.S. case no. 40459).

With a copied extract from the Oldham Evening Chronicle, 29 September 1913, which reported on the incident: ‘About three o’clock on Sunday afternoon Mr Wm. Radcliffe, joiner, of Spring Bank, Uppermill, was walking along the canal bank at Wade Lock when he noticed a coat, vest and hat underneath the beam used for opening the lock. He looked into the water and saw the body of a man in it. The head was submerged, but the man’s shoulders were just above water. The lock was empty, and it was a drop of 15 feet to the water. Mr Radcliffe called assistance, and Mr Walter Hall, of Diggle, who was passing at the time, plunged into the water and brought the body to the towing path, a distance of 15 to 20 yards. Dr Brunaud (?) conducted artificial respiration for over half an hour, but without success. The body was identified as being that of Thomas Bradbury, of Uppermill, a man well known locally, and about 60 years of age, and by trade a dry-waller.’

Uppermill and Diggle are villages in West Yorkshire a few miles to the east of Oldham.