Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Private W. J. Osborn, Coldstream Guards, who was killed in action on the Western Front on 1 February 1915

1914 Star, with clasp (5216 Pte. W. J. Osborn. C. Gds:); British War and Victory Medals (5216 Pte. W. J. Osborn. C. Gds.); Memorial Plaque Walter James Osborn) in card envelope; Memorial Scroll ‘Pte. Walter James Osborn Coldstream Guards’, in scroll tube, addressed to ‘Mr. J. Osborn, 5 Kirby Road, Dunstable’, extremely fine (4) £260-£300

Walter James Osborn, the son of Joseph Osborn, of Dunstable, Bedfordshire, attested for the Coldstream Guards, and served with the 2nd Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 26 August 1914. He was killed in action on 1 February 1915, on which date the Battalion was at Cuinchy, northern France, alongside the Irish Guards. On the last day of January, the Germans attacked and took possession of trenches adjacent to the Irish Guards. It was of critical importance to retake these positions in order to re-establish the line and prevent the Germans from advancing to Calais. On the morning of 1 February the British opened the assault with an artillery barrage. The Coldstream Guards then swarmed over and attacked with fixed bayonets. Many men were mowed down by enemy machine-gun fire. Finally the Irish Guards followed up the attack, and it was during this latter attack that Michael O’Leary performed the heroic act that gained him the Victoria Cross.

Osborn was amongst those men killed, and he is buried in Cuinchy Communal Cemetery, France.