Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War 1917 ’3rd Ypres’ M.M. awarded to Private T. Edgar, Northumberland Fusiliers, later Machine Gun Corps, who was also awarded the 34th Division Card of Honour and was wounded in 1918

Military Medal, G.V.R. (24719 Pte. T. Edgar. 26/Nth’d: Fus:) contact marks and edge bruising, fine £180-£220

M.M. London Gazette 28 January 1918

Thomas Edgar was a native of Newcastle upon Tyne and served during the Great War on the Western Front initially with the 26th (Service) Battalion (3rd Tyneside Irish), Northumberland Fusiliers, as part of the 103rd Brigade, 34th Division. The edition of the London Gazette containing his M.M. carries awards for October 1917, Battle of Passchendaele Ridge, during which the 3rd Tyneside Irish fought near Poelcapelle in appalling conditions between 12 and 23 October 1917. The Battalion War Diary entry for 12 October 1917 described the terrain as ‘very bad, country half flooded with water - whole Battalion area one sea of mud’. During this period the battalion lost 80 officers and men killed or wounded and others reported missing. Edgar’s M.M. award is entered in the diary on 18 November 1917.
Edgar was also awarded the 34th Division Card of Honour for his service with the 3rd Tyneside Irish. The battalion was then disbanded during February 1918 and he transferred to the Machine Gun Corps. In June 1918 the St. George’s Gazette reported him as wounded.
Medal Index Card confirms entitlement to British War and Victory Medals.