Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Lieutenant E. Graver, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment, late Norfolk Regiment, who subsequently served in ‘A’ Company, Royal Irish Constabulary, in Kilkenny during the Irish Civil War 1921-22

1914-15 Star (3-10545 Pte. E. Graver. Norf. R.); British War and Victory Medals (3-10545 Cpl. E. Graver. Norf. R.) good very fine (3) £180-220

Edward Graver was born in Syderstone, near King’s Lynn, Norfolk, on 21 August 1889, and served with the 3rd (Volunteer) Battalion, Norfolk Regiment. Following the outbreak of the Great War he attested for the Norfolk Regiment at Norwich on 1 September 1914, and served with the 1st Battalion on the Western Front from 11 January 1915, where his medical records record him as suffering from shell shock, experienced on the Somme in August 1916. Recovering sufficiently, he was promoted Corporal on 14 October of that year. Recommended for a commission, he transferred to the training reserve on 19 June 1917, and was posted to No. 2 Officers Cadet Battalion on 11 August 1917. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 10th Battalion, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment, on 17 December 1917, and served with them for the remainder of the War at home, being promoted Lieutenant on 18 June 1919. He relinquished his commission on 2 April 1921, retaining the rank of Lieutenant.

Graver subsequently joined the Royal Irish Constabulary as a temporary cadet on 16 June 1921, and was posted to ‘A’ Company, serving during the Civil War with the Auxiliaries based at Woodstock House, Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny, until 17 January 1922; immediately after the R.I.C. vacated the premises then Woodstock House was burnt down by the I.R.A.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Graver applied for enrolment in the Officers Emergency Reserve on 8 September 1939, and was accepted on 3 January 1940.