Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War 1918 ‘Western Front’ D.C.M. group of four awarded to Company Sergeant Major E. Simpson, Lincolnshire Regiment, who was wounded at the Second Battle of the Scarpe in April 1917, and was reportedly taken Prisoner of War.

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (10959 C.S.Mjr: E. Simpson. 7/Linc: R.); 1914/15 Star (10959 L. Cpl. E. Simpson. Linc: R.); British War and Victory Medal (10959 W.O. CL. 2. E. Simpson. Linc. R.) well polished therefore generally good fine (4) £800-£1,200

D.C.M. London Gazette 3 June 1918, citation published 21 October 1918:
‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He has served with the battalion since it was raised. He displays an utter disregard of danger, and is imbued with an enthusiasm for offensive action which cannot be too highly commended. The good work done by his company has been largely due to his powers of maintaining esprit de corps.’

Edward Franklin Simpson was born in Lincoln in 1896, and served during the Great War with the 7th (Service) Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment on the Western Front from 14 July 1915- the Battalion served in the front lines in the Southern Ypres salient later that year and also during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The following spring he suffered a gun-shot wound to the right thigh during the Second Battle of the Scarpe and was admitted to the 51st Field Ambulance on 23 April 1917, followed by a period at No. 3 Convalescent Depot in Le Treport, Normandy, after which he was discharged to Base on 6 June 1917. He returned to France and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. A contemporary newspaper report states that Simpson spent the final nine months of the war in a German P.O.W. camp. Following the cessation of hostilities he was given a class ‘Z’ discharge on 27 March 1919 and returned to his pre-war occupation as a gardener, going on to spend sixteen years as Head Gardener to Lord Liverpool at Hartsholme Hall.