Auction Catalogue

8 & 9 May 2019

Starting at 10:00 AM

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Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

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Lot

№ 101

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8 May 2019

Hammer Price:
£440

A Great War M.M. Group of three awarded to Private J. W. Wright, Lincolnshire Regiment, who was wounded near Lens in April 1917 and died in France on 30 September 1918

Military Medal G.V.R. (201658 Pte. J. W. Wright. 1/4 Linc: R. – T.F.); British War and Victory Medals (4636 Pte. J. W. Wright. Linc. R.) good very fine (3) £300-£400

M.M. London Gazette 30 June 1917.

John William Wright was born in Billingboro, Lincolnshire in 1887. He attested for the Lincolnshire Regiment at Sleaford in 1915, and served with them during the Great War on the Western Front from the end of 1916. He sustained a gun-shot wound to his left leg while serving with the 1/4th Battalion near Lens on 20 April 1917, and was admitted to the 18th General Hospital via No. 58 Casualty Clearing Station on 23 April 1917 where he remained for 9 days before being returning to England for a time. His Military Medal was gazetted less than two months later. The battalion war diary for 20 April 1917 suggests sniper-fire:
‘A fairly quiet day. Ignorant of the country and of the exact enemy positions we exposed ourselves needlessly.’

Wright returned to the Western Front, and died on 30 September 1918 while serving with the 2nd Battalion who, on this day, lost 10 men killed and 39 wounded in the attack on Gonnelieu. He has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial, France.

Sold together with an illuminated Certificate of Service, signed by the C.-in-C., Northern Command, confirming that Private John William Wright served for 7 years in the 1st Volunteer Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment (1901-1908). Owing to the date of the recipient’s birth, and the years of service, this was possibly awarded to a relative.