Auction Catalogue

8 December 2016

Starting at 10:00 AM

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Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

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Lot

№ 29 x

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8 December 2016

Hammer Price:
£6,500

A Great War 1916 Albert Medal for Land awarded to Company Sergeant Major W. Shooter, Cheshire Regiment, for saving the life of two officers by throwing away a live bomb, which exploded in the air before he could take cover, wounding him in the process. Seriously wounded a second time in the advance on St. Quentin, where his entire lower jaw was blown away, he spent the next 17 months in hospital

Albert Medal, 2nd Class, for Gallantry in Saving Life on Land, bronze and enamel, the reverse officially engraved ‘Presented by His Majesty to Acting Company Sergeant Major William Shooter, 15th. (S) Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment, for Gallantry in saving life in France on the 8th. April 1916.’, in case of issue, nearly extremely fine
£5000-6000

A.M. London Gazette 4 January 1918:

‘On the 8th April 1916, while bombing instruction was being given in a trench occupied by two officers, Sergeant-Major Shooter, and a private, the private, who was about to throw a bomb from which he had withdrawn the safety pin, dropped it. Without giving any warning of what had occurred, he ran away. After about two seconds had elapsed, Sergeant-Major Shooter saw the bomb. He could easily have escaped around the traverse, but, in order to save the others, he seized the bomb and threw it away. It exploded in the air before Sergeant-Major Shooter could take cover, wounding him. By risking his life he undoubtedly saved the two officers who were with him in the trench from serious or fatal injury.’

William Shooter was employed as a Foreman Stoker with Bradford Dyers Association at Brighouse, Yorkshire, prior to his enlistment in the Cheshire Regiment on 30 November 1914. He was awarded the Albert Medal for his gallantry during the Great War, ‘... the deed which has been so fittingly recognised dates back to April 1916, when the Sergeant was giving instructions at a bombing school in France. One of the boys inadvertently dropped a grenade. The Sergeant realised the gravity of the situation, and, taking his own life in his hands, picked it up. The bomb exploded and wounded Shooter severely in the thigh, but his timely action undoubtedly saved a number of lives. Two Officers, a Sergeant, and a Private were in the breastwork at the time, and they all escaped without a scratch, thanks to Shooter’s coolness and bravery. He still carries a piece of the shell in his thigh.
A year later the Sergeant was again seriously wounded, and he has now been in hospital for seventeen months. On the advance on St. Quentin a high explosive burst. In its descent it took away the bottom part of Shooter’s jaw. So clean did the explosive do its work that it carried away nearly all his teeth, one being split clean in two. Shooter is regarded as one of the miracles of medical science. In the hospital practically a new lower jaw is being built up for him with marvellous success.’ (newspaper article included with the lot refers).
He was presented with his Albert Medal by H.M. King George V at Buckingham Palace on 18 September 1918, and was discharged on 26 November of that year.