Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Private J. C. Duckworth, 11th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, who was killed in action at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, on 25 April 1915

1914-15 Star (385 Pte. J. C. Duckworth. 11/Bn. A.I.F.); British War and Victory Medals (385 Pte. J. C. Duckworth. 11 Bn. A.I.F.); Memorial Plaque (John Currie Duckworth); Memorial Scroll (Pte. John Currie Duckworth 11 Bn. A.I.F.), the Plaque mounted in a fitted wooden shield, lacquered, good very fine (4) £800-£1,200

John Curry Duckworth, a native of Perth, Western Australia, was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in April 1878, and attested for the Australian Imperial Force at Blackboy Hill, Western Australia on 19 August 1914. He embarked with the 11th Battalion from Fremantle on 2 November 1914, and arrived in Alexandria on 26 November 1914. He served during the Great War in the Gallipoli landings on 25 April 1915, and was killed in action that same day, as described in a letter written to the recipient’s father by Corporal M. Spicer, also of the 11th Battalion:
‘Your son “Jock”, together with the greater part of the signallers, including myself, landed from the Usk about 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, 25th April. We went up the first hill and found ourselves together again on top of the next. Signalling was out of the question where we were, so we went into the firing line, and were potting away together and chatting, Jock being as cool as ever he was. I had just finished speaking to Jock, and had fired one or two shots when I glanced towards him, and found he had been hit. I crept alongside him, but regret I could not help him- he had been killed instantaneously in the act of firing.
It will be some consolation to you to know that he died fighting to the last, and that his death was painless. He was held in high esteem by every man in the section, and all wish to join with me in expression of sympathy with you in the loss of such a splendid son.’

Duckworth is buried in Shrapnel Valley Cemetery, Turkey.

Sold with an Australian Military Forces ‘For Australia’ pennant; letter to the recipient’s widow informing her of the death of her husband, dated Perth, 28 June 1915; a copy of a letter written to the recipient’s father by a Corporal in the recipient’s battalion, describing the recipient’s death; and a photograph of the recipient with his family.