Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War 1918 ‘French theatre’ M.C. group of four awarded to Lieutenant J. A. Lorimer, 5/6th Battalion, Royal Scots, late Private Queen’s Own Royal Glasgow Yeomanry, for repeated gallantry at Sequehart, Aisne, over the course of three days, 1 - 3 October 1918

Military Cross, G.V.R., reverse privately engraved ‘Lieut. J. A. Lorimer 5/6 The Royal Scots Sequehart, France 3rd October 1918’; 1914-15 Star (2098 Pte. J. A. Lorimer Q.O.R. Glasgow Y.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. J. A. Lorimer.) mounted as worn, areas of erasure before and after naming details on last two, generally good very fine (4) £800-£1,000

M.C. London Gazette 8 March 1919 (citation published 4 October 1919):
‘For conspicuous gallantry and able leadership at Sequehart on 1st, 2nd and 3rd October, 1918. When all the officers of his company were wounded, he took command of the company, and during the enemy counter-attack he hung on to his objective until almost surrounded. Next day he again reached his objectives, inflicting severe losses to the enemy and capturing many prisoners.’

John Arthur Lorimer served during the Great War in the ranks of the Queen’s Own Royal Glasgow Yeomanry in the French theatre of war from 13 May 1915. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Royal Scots in May 1918, and served with the 5/6th Battalion on the Western Front.

Lorimer distinguished himself at Sequehart, Aisne, 1 - 3 October 1918:

‘Sequehart was the objective of the 5/6th Royal Scots in an attack at 4pm on the 1st October. Advancing from Levergies with ‘B’ Company on the right and ‘A’ on the left, the Royal Scots swept through Sequehart in a rush and captured over one hundred and fifty Germans and numerous machine-guns. But the Boches in the evening revealed some of their old form, when, counter-attacking on both flanks at 8.30pm, they compelled the Royal Scots to evacuate the village and withdraw to a line from 100 to 200 yards to the west of it. In a second attempt, on the 2nd October, the battalion recaptured Sequehart after furious fighting, and with a view to parrying the expected counter-thrust, two companies of the 15th Highland Light Infantry were sent to guard the left, and another company the right, flank. Even these measures were not sufficient, as the enemy showed, three hours later, when he fell with overwhelming force on the left flank, driving it in again, and causing the Royal Scots to retire. The latter succumbed only to the sheer weight of numbers, and a glorious effort to preserve the captured position was made by 2nd Lieut. A. Davidson Smith, who was in command of a company and had not allowed a nasty wound in the knee to deter him from remaining with his men till the objective was gained; on the news reaching him that the Germans were pouring through Sequehart, he tore himself free from the the ministrations of an orderly who was dressing his knee, and making for the village, was striving his utmost to rally his men when a bullet brought his brave life to an end. The 5/6th Royal Scots lost other sterling officers in 2nd Lieuts. D. M. Duncan and J. Woltherspoon. The German losses must have been very heavy, for during the day’s fighting two hundred and eighty prisoners, thirty machine-guns, and three field-guns were taken by the Royal Scots, but Sequehart was of such importance that the enemy seemed willing to make any sacrifice to keep it. In addition to the officers killed, the Royal Scots lost five officers wounded, and more than one hundred other ranks in killed, wounded, and missing.

On the 3rd October a third attack met with a better fortune. The Thirty-second Division was engaged in a general assault, and at the request of Lieut.-Colonel Fraser, Sequehart was again allotted to the Royal Scots as their objective. At 9 am ‘C’ and ‘D’ Companies advanced with the fixed determination to carry and keep the village, and a glorious charge took them right through Sequehart, on the east side of which they consolidated a line; forty-five more prisoners were gathered in, and the hostile attempts to concentrate were all shattered by artillery and machine-gun fire. For two days the Royal Scots clung grimly to their shell-swept position, and having by this time secured a firm grasp on the village they beat off two counter-attacks with great loss to the enemy.’ (The Royal Scot 1914-18, by Major J. Ewing, M.C., refers).