Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Private E. Walley, Royal Berkshire Regiment
1914-15 Star (10531 Pte. E. Walley. R. Berks. R.); British War and Victory Medals (10531 Pte. E. Walley. R. Berks. R.) in named card boxes of issue; together with a Princess Mary Christmas 1914 Tin and its related best wishes card, extremely fine

Pair: Private A. Austin, Royal Berkshire Regiment
British War and Victory Medals (21816 Pte. A. Austin. R. Berks. R.) in named card box of issue with outer envelope addressed to ‘Mr A. Austin, 75, Westborough Road, Boyn Hill, Maidenhead, Berks.’, extremely fine

British War Medal 1914-20 (3380 Pte. J. Hollands. R. Berks. R.); together with a tribute bearing an image of the recipient; a Royal Berkshire Regiment cap badge; and a shoulder title, all contained in a glazed frame, nearly extremely fine

Territorial Efficiency Medal, G.V.R. (200129 Sjt. F. Finch. 4/R. Berks: R.) minor contact marks, very fine (7) £100-£140

Ernest Walley was born in 1886 in Reading, Berkshire. He attested for the Royal Berkshire Regiment on 27 August 1914 and served with them during the Great War on the Western Front from 30 May 1915. He was treated for neurasthenia on Ambulance Train 31 in France on 22 April 1917 and then transferred to the Labour Corps. He was discharged on 19 June 1918 and was awarded a Silver War Badge. He died in Reading in 1925.

Arthur Austin served during the Great War on the Western Front with the 8th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment. He was treated on Number 31 Ambulance Train on 18 February 1917 and was admitted to County of Middlesex War Hospital at Napsbury in June 1917. He was discharged to furlough on 5 July 1917 and later served with the Training Reserve.

James Arthur Hollands was born in Dartford, Kent in 1898 and was a native of Cookham, Berkshire. He served during the Great War with the 2/4th Battalion, Princess Charlotte of Wales’s (Royal Berkshire Regiment) and was killed in action on 19 July 1916 in an attack on the enemy lines at Varennes, designed to be part of the 61st Division’s support of the Australian Divisional attack at Fromelles. The attack, after several cancellations due to bad weather, was made over a flat muddy Flanders plain devoid of cover, toward the German positions situated at Aubers Ridge. The Australians lost 5,355 men in the attack, while the half strength 61st Division lost 1,547 men. Hollands is buried in the New Military Cemetery, Laventie, France.

Sold with a second, smaller, framed and glazed memorial tribute to the recipient and his older brother Charles Stephen Hollands, East Kent Buffs, who was killed in action at Loos on 28 September 1915.

Frederick Finch served during the Great War with the 1/4th Battalion, Princess Charlotte of Wales’s (Royal Berkshire) Regiment.