Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The known surviving elements of a remarkable family group of 1914-18 medals:

Three: Air Mechanic 1st Class G. H. Bewley, Royal Air Force, late Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment and Royal Flying Corps

1914-15 Star (2484 Pte., Notts. & Derby. R.); British War and Victory Medals (39351 1 A.M., R.F.C.), mounted as worn, very fine, together with related Sherwood Foresters (“Robin Hood”) badge, assorted buttons (6) and I.D. tags (3), the latter comprising one Army and two R.F.C. types

Three: Petty Officer (Mechanic) J. C. L. Bewley, Armoured Car Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service

1914-15 Star (F. 463 P.O.M., R.N.A.S.); British War and Victory Medals (F. 463 P.O.M., R.N.A.S.), mounted for display within an old wooden frame, extremely fine, together with related Memorial Plaque (Joseph Charles Layborn Bewley) and R.N.A.S. Armoured Car badge

Three: Sergeant T. Bewley, Royal Army Medical Corps

1914-15 Star (2347 Pte., R.A.M.C.): British War and Victory Medals (2347 Sjt., R.A.M.C.), mounted as worn, good very fine, together with related silver I.D. bracelet

Pair: Corporal E. G. Bewley, Royal Army Pay Corps

Defence and War Medals, in addressed card forwarding box, extremely fine (lot)
£800-1000

The origins of the Bewley family of Derby can be traced back to the Beaulieus of Thistlewaite in the Middle Ages, and over several centuries a number of them have served with distinction as judges, soldiers and clergymen - a photocopy of a recent family tree accompanies the Lot. Yet the branch of the family that would hit the home press in the Great War was that of Henry Bewley (1829-1909), a Cambridge graduate and the editor of the Derby Gazette, and his wife Henrietta (1854-1924), all of whose seven sons and three daughters fought for King and Country:

George Henry (born 1882): Sherwood Foresters and R.F.C.

Francis Richards (born 1885): Army Pay Department

Joseph Charles Layborn (born 1888): R.N.A.S. (Armoured Cars)

Alec William (born 1889): Sherwood Foresters

Cecil Arthur (born 1891): Derbyshire Yeomanry

Oscar Ralph (born 1892): Derbyshire Yeomanry

Theodore Lyle (born 1893): R.A.M.C.

Edith Mercy (born 1873): S.J.A.B. and V.A.D.

Florence Ellen (born 1879): S.J.A.B. and V.A.D.

Gertrude Mary (born 1881): S.J.A.B. and V.A.D.

Original wartime photographs of each of the above are also included in the Lot, the whole mounted for display within an oval wooden frame – all of them, with the exception of Joseph, who died on active service in East Africa, returned home after the War.

On learning of the family’s extraordinary example of patriotism, possibly as a result of the feature that appeared in the Daily Graphic on 2 November 1916, King George V sent a letter of commendation to Henry and Henrietta Bewley.

Luckily for posterity’s sake, their parish vicar, Canon Harry Rolfe of St. Michael’s, Derby, had encouraged all of his “active service congregation” to write home to him with their news, much of which was published in the parish magazine – a parish medallion and other St. Michael’s memorabilia is included. Then in 1999, another local clergyman, Canon Michael Austin, edited these letters into a book, Almost Like a Dream, A Parish at War 1914-19 (Merton Priory Press, Cardiff), from which the following details have been largely extracted (see accompanying edition):

George Henry Bewley, born in 1882, the elder son of Henry and Henrietta Bewley, George enlisted in the Sherwood Foresters in September 1914 and was posted to Flanders with the 7th Battalion in the following year. In July 1916, however, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, and served in France from February to September 1917. George was discharged in the rank of 1st Class Air Mechanic at Blandford in February 1919.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including his Army and R.A.F. discharge certificates and a separate contemporary portrait photograph; together with two “Propeller” tip photograph frames and an R.F.C. swagger stick.

Joseph Charles Layborn “Joe” Bewley, born in 1888, the third son of Henry and Henrietta Bewley, Joseph was employed as a demonstrator and instructor at Rolls Royce before the War and was therefore a natural choice for the R.N.A.S’s Armoured Car Section on his enlistment. Rapidly advanced to Petty Officer (Mechanic), he was appointed driver of his unit’s “Flagship”, the armoured car used by his section C.O., a nephew of the late Lord Roberts. A letter home takes up the story:

‘Our Squadron is almost complete, and we are now on Active Service. A Corps consists of 14 Squadrons and each Squadron has three sections and there are about 60 men in a squad. The cars are of the latest pattern and very fine, with revolving turret, and we are now efficient in working the guns. I belong to No. 1 Squadron, A Section, and the leading car of the section is known as the “Flagship” and the head officer rides in it. We were all anxious as to who would be chosen to drive this car and you will be pleased to know that they have honoured me in making me driver of the “Flagship”. My officer is a nephew of the late Lord Roberts.’

In a subsequent letter home from Africa - where his armoured car unit was participating in the German South-West Africa campaign - Joseph described his first engagement:

‘We dashed off in our cars and took up our positions, when we saw the Germans advancing over the sand hills. In about a quarter of an hour, shot and shell began to fly all around us, for the enemy had come to shell our camp, and, if possible, capture it. We held our position for some time, and then we moved back through the camp to another position. While so engaged we ran into some soft sand. It was an anxious time for us, for the Germans had got the range of us and were dropping shells round about. One of our fellows, called Marshall, got hit in the arm with flying shrapnel, and he had to be carried away. He was the only one in our squadron to get hurt. Well, the battle went on for over four hours, at the end of which we drove the Germans back and won the day. As far as I can make out, the Germans brought up six 12-pounders and about 600 men … We lost two officers killed and about ten men, while the Germans lost more than that in prisoners, and treble that number in killed and wounded … We were congratulated by our officers that night. I think we made a very good start: everybody was quite cool, and would not have missed it for pounds. I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have taken part in the biggest battle there has been in Africa since the war started. One of soldiers out here who has been right through the South African War told me that he had never been in a battle so big during the whole of that War.’

Ordered East on the conclusion of the German South-West Africa operations, Joseph’s unit was embarked on the Black Prince for Cape Town in July 1915, and the arrival of General Botha later that month witnessed the R.N.A.S’s armoured cars acting as his Guard of Honour. From there the unit moved to nearby Wynberg, where the cars were completely overhauled in readiness for future operations, but sadly, that December, having reached British East Africa, Joseph fell ill with malaria, quickly followed by enteric and pneumonia, the effects of which resulted in his death at Nairobi on 5 January 1916, aged 27 years. His C.O. wrote of him to his mother:

‘An excellent driver, always steady and willing to do any thing, I regarded him as one of my very best men, and one whom I cannot replace. He was extremely popular in the squadron, and officers and men, one and all, join me in offering you our deepest sympathy in your sad bereavement.’

Theodore (Lyle) Bewley, born in 1893, the youngest son of Henry and Henrietta Bewley, Theodore enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps and was employed on the Western Front as a Sergeant Dispenser, originally with the 1st North Midland Division, Field Ambulance, R.A.M.C. Writing home from Flanders in September 1915, he described conditions at the front:

‘I think I told you we had moved into a warm spot, in fact rather too hot to be pleasant. I came here last Saturday night to relieve the other dispenser for a rest, and it was a bit of a contrast from the previous Saturday. We are well in front of the Artillery, and about a mile behind our trenches, so you can imagine what a terrible noisy place it is, and what a lot of shells we have over us. We are in very cosy dug-outs, but it is just as though we are all rabbits. We are fairly safe as regards shrapnel, but if a shell were to drop plump on the roof, things would be in rather a mess. That’s the only danger, we never know when we might be blown up. There are some very big guns here, especially one in the field behind us, and every time it fires the concussion is so great that it puts all the lights out in the dug-out. We have been very busy at times, and have had as many as 150 to 200 cases through a night. It is day and night work here and so we get asleep when we can. The battalion fellows absolutely worship our stretcher bearers when they fetch them in, for they have to go about two miles over fields and exposed to shell fire all the time … they have done some splendid work, and the poor chaps get back in the early morning about exhausted.’

Theodore survived the War – and being gassed at Ypres in October 1917 – and died in 1952.


Eric George Bewley, the son of George Henry Bewley, and a grandson of Henry and Henrietta Bewley, Eric served as a Corporal in the Royal Army Pay Corps between August 1940 and May 1946.

Sold with his original Soldier’s Release Book and one or two other contemporary documents; together with his battledress tunic and cap, with R.A.P.C. shoulder flashes, rank insignia, etc.