Auction Catalogue

19 & 20 July 2017

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Live Online Auction

Download Images

Lot

№ 102

.

19 July 2017

Hammer Price:
£440

A Great War posthumous M.M. group of three awarded to Private W. Baird, Seaforth Highlanders, originally recommended for the D.C.M., he was killed in action at Ledeghem, 1 October 1918

Military Medal, G.V.R. (S/43333 Pte W. Baird. 7/Sea: Highrs); British War and Victory Medals (S-18887 Pte. W. Baird. Gordons.) good very fine (3) £300-400

M.M. London Gazette 14 May 1919.

William Baird was born in Dumfries, and attested for the Gordon Highlanders at Hexham, Northumberland. After serving with the Gordons during the Great War on the Western Front, he transferred to 4th and then 7th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders, and was killed in action on 1 October 1918, aged 41. He is buried in Dadizeele British Cemetery, Belgium, and was posthumously awarded the M.M. He is also commemorated on the Kirkton War Memorial and the headstone of the family plot at Kirkton Church.

The Dumfries and Galloway Standard of 9 October 1918 contains an article regarding Private Baird, headed ‘Missing Soldier Recommended for the D.C.M’. The article notes that Baird was recommended for the DCM, ‘for very fine action during the recent advance’. It is likely that these deeds occurred on 28 September 1918 in the attack and successful taking of Frezenberg Ridge, where pill boxes and dug-outs were cleared and many P.O.W.s taken. The village of Dadizeele was taken by the 9th Scottish Division on 29 September 1918 followed by intense fighting on Hill 41 and the taking of the village of Ledeghem “after a sharp struggle”, on 1 October 1918. The Battalion War Diary notes 19 men killed, 4 missing and 69 wounded on 1 October 1918 and includes Baird’s award of the M.M. in a list of awards in October 1918. The 7th Battalion suffered 24 fatal casualties on 1 October 1918.