Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A poignant family group:

A Great War M.M. and Bar group of three awarded to Sergeant R. J. Walder, Machine Gun Corps, who was killed in action in September 1918
Military Medal, G.V.R., with Second Award Bar (55928 Cpl. R. J. Walder, 9/M.G.C.); British War and Victory Medals (55928 Sjt. R. J. Walder, M.G.C.), in their card boxes of issue with related Record office forwarding letter, together with the recipient’s Memorial Plaque (Roderick Jesse Walder) and Buckingham Palace memorial scroll, extremely fine

Three: Private R. D. Walder, Royal Sussex Regiment, who died of wounds in May 1915
1914-15 Star (5-2873 Pte. R. D. Walder, R. Suss. R.); British War and Victory Medals (2873 Pte. R. D. Walder, R. Suss. R.), with related Record Office forwarding letters and card box of issue for the last two; together with the recipient’s Memorial Plaque (Richard Down Walder) and Buckingham Palace memorial scroll, extremely fine (7) £1000-1200

M.M. London Gazette 27 June 1918.

Bar to M.M. London Gazette 29 August 1918.

Roderick Jesse Walder enlisted in the 5th London Regiment (City of London / London Rifle Brigade) in March 1915 and went to France in September 1916. Having then transferred to the Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), and won a brace of M.Ms, he was killed in action on 19 July 1918, aged 20 years, while serving in the 9th Battalion, M.G.C.

The youngest son of George and Elizabeth Walder of Bolney, near Haywards Heath, Sussex, he was buried in Meteren Military Cemetery; sold with an original photograph of a group of German soldiers, taken by the recipient as a souvenir ‘before I went to the Base last April’ (his reverse caption refers).

Richard Down Walder enlisted in the Royal Sussex Regiment in November 1914 and went to France with the 5th Battalion in mid-February 1915. One or two of his letters home were published in the Sussex News in April 1915, from which the following extract has been taken:

‘So far our regiment has been lucky. We have been in the tenches that were captured from the Germans during the last big battle. I had a laugh the other day. One of the chaps in our dug-out noticed a German boot sticking out from the rear of the trench, and was going to get it as a souvenir. He stuck his trenching tool into it and then found there was a foot inside of it. He didn’t dig any further, as we didn’t know how much more was attached to the foot. I’ve often thought lately that the best form of recruiting would be to give the chaps who ought to join a free trip out here, and just show them round a bit ... ’

Sadly, Walder’s correspondence ended in the following month, when he died of wounds on 18 May 1915, aged 21 years. The oldest son of George and Elizabeth Walder of Bolney, near Haywards Heath, Sussex, he was buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.