Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Private A. H. Ryan, Middlesex Regiment, who was killed in action at the Battle of Arras on 11 April 1917

1914-15 Star (2016. Pte. A. H. Ryan. Middx. R.); British War and Victory Medals (2016 Pte. A. H. Ryan. Midd’x R.) good very fine (3) £80-£120

Alfred Harold Ryan was born in Hornsey, Middlesex, on 25 November 1892, and attested there for the Duke of Cambridge’s Own Middlesex Regiment (Territorial Force) in 1912. He served with the 1st/7th Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 12 March 1915, and was killed in action at the Battle of Arras on 11 April 1917.

A letter written to the recipient’s sister from Second Lieutenant C. S. Kiddell Monroe, dated 31 May 1917, states: ‘Your brother, whom I knew quite well, had pushed forward with the rest of his platoon and had captured a barricade in the German Lines. When they had reached it your brother and others were left to hold it whilst the rest pushed on. He held it very gallantly until he was killed instantaneously by a sniper. The courage and initiative which he displayed whilst holding this place was not only noticed by his pals but also by a number of officers and was highly commented on.
He is very much missed by all the men in his platoon as he was so very cheery and happy, and was always the one to keep the men’s spirits up in the worst situations. I shall miss him very much; he was one of my best bombers and was a very smart soldier, and I could always rely on him whatever the work was.
We buried him in a military cemetery just behind the village (near Arras) which he had so gallantly helped to take.

Ryan has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, France.

Sold with copied research, including a photographic image of the recipient, and the Battalion War Diary for the date of the recipient’s death.