Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Boys’ Brigade Cross for Heroism, 1st type, bronze, reverse inscribed, ‘Private James Fisher, 18th Bristol Company, 5th June 1906’, lacking brooch bar, good very fine, scarce £500-£600

Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, December 2012.

The following account was published in the Western Daily Press, Tuesday, 7 June 1906:

‘A plucky Bristol Boy.
A plucky rescue from drowning was effected at Netham, St George, on Tuesday. It appears that at about 7 o’clock screams were heard coming from what is known as the dam, and it was ascertained that a girl had fallen into deep water. A boy named James Fisher, aged 15, of 11, Henry Street, Barton Hill, hearing the screams, ran to the riverside, and some playmates of the unfortunate girl having pointed out the spot where their companion had disappeared young Fisher immediately plunged into the water, which at that point is about 11 feet deep, and, seizing the girl, succeeded in getting her to the side of the river, where they were assisted by some onlookers. They were both in a semi-conscious state when pulled out of the water. Fisher was loudly praised for his plucky effort.’