Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria to coincide with the OMRS Convention

A good Great War M.M. group of four awarded to Second Lieutenant C. E. Songhurst, 13th (West Ham’s Own) Battalion, Essex Regiment, killed in action on 22 August 1918

Military Medal, G.V.R. (18061 L. Sjt., 13/Essex R.) official correction to second initial and first two letters of surname; 1914-15 Star (18061 Cpl., Essex R.); British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut.); together with memorial plaque (Charles Edward Songhurst); and a fine array of original documents and photographs, including, the recipients pocket diary for 1918, with a few brief entries for the beginning of the year; War Graves literature; Buckingham Palace telegram of condolence; three photographs including recipient; and an original copy of the War Office Weekly Casualty List, dated 10 September 1918, extremely fine (5) £500-700

M.M. London Gazette 21 October 1916.

Second Lieutenant Charles Edward Songhurst, M.M., first entered the French theatre of war as a Corporal with the 13th (West Ham’s Own) Battalion, Essex Regiment in mid-November 1915. Gazetted for the M.M. in October 1916, very probably for services on the Somme, it is possible that he was present in the gallant last stand made by components of the battalion at Moeuvres, near Cambrai in November 1917, or, if not, an uncomfortably close eye-witness to it - an original double-page depiction of the action, by Caton Woodville, taken from The Illustrated London News of 9 March 1918 accompanies the lot.

He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, Essex Regiment in late January 1918, and subsequently killed in action on 22 August 1918, whilst attached to the 9th Battalion, Essex Regiment. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial, Pas de Calais, France.