Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Second Lieutenant A. Dunkley, 12th Battalion, attached 9th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment, who was either killed in action or died of wounds, in Mesopotamia, 9 April 1916

1914-15 Star (2. Lieut. A. Dunkley. Worc. R.); British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. A. Dunkley.); Memorial Plaque (Alexander Dunkley) small mount removed from reverse of plaque, generally good very fine or better (4) £300-£400

Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, June 2009.

Alexander Dunkley was born in East Plumstead in January 1892, and educated at Aske’s School, Hatcham, where in 1909 he won a Gold Medal for Science and Mathematics. He then went to University College London, 1910-12, where he gained a B.Sc. (Honours) in Physics; he was also a member of the University O.T.C. Dunkley then entered the teaching profession and when the war broke out was an Assistant Master at the High School for Boys, Southend-on-Sea, and an officer in the School Cadet Corps.

Dunkley resided with his wife at 22 Swettenham Place, Plumstead, London. He was commissioned Temporary Second Lieutenant in June 1915, and served during the Great War with the Worcestershire Regiment in the Egyptian theatre of war from 7 December 1915. Dunkley was killed in action whilst serving with the 12th Battalion, attached 9th (Service) Battalion in the Mesopotamian theatre of war, 9 April 1916, and is commemorated on the Basra Memorial, Iraq (Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-19 refers). Elsewhere he was reported severely wounded and missing in an attack on the Turks before Sanna-i-Yat, 9 April 1916. At a Court of Inquiry held on 2 June 1917 it was concluded that 2nd Lieutenant Dunkley had died of wounds.