Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Knight Bachelor’s Badge, Great War ‘Western Front’ M.C. group of seven awarded to Sir Bertram O. Bircham, Hampshire Regiment, later Solicitor to the Ministry of Labour, who was wounded in action at Masnières on 20 November 1917

Knight Bachelor’s Badge, 1st type breast badge, silver-gilt and enamel, hallmarks for London 1930, unnamed as issued, in case of issue; Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (2.Lieut. B. O. Bircham. Hamps. R.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. B. O. Bircham.); Jubilee 1935, unnamed as issued; Coronation 1937, unnamed as issued, mounted court-style as worn, good very fine (7) £1,200-£1,600

Knight Bachelor London Gazette 1 January 1932: Bertram Okeden Bircham, Esq., M.C., Solicitor to the Ministry of Labour.

M.C. London Gazette 26 January 1917:
‘For conspicuous gallantry in action. He organised his own and another company under heavy fire and reinforced the attacking line at a critical times. He set a splendid example of courage and coolness throughout.’

Sir Bertram Okeden Bircham was born in Brecon on 18 October 1877 and was educated at Eton and New College, Oxford. Called to the Bar in 1901, he attested for the 16th (Public Schools) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, at Kempton Park on 26 October 1914, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Hampshire Regiment on 23 April 1915. He served with the 13th Battalion in the Gallipoli theatre of War from September 1915, and subsequently on the Western Front, and was wounded by gunshot at Masnières on 20 November 1917- the Medical Board reports states: ‘he was hit by a rifle bullet which first passed through his neck from right to left just under the chin, and then passed through his right shoulder above the clavicle.’

Advanced Captain and awarded the Military Cross, Bircham relinquished his commission on 26 February 1919, and resumed his legal career. He was appointed Solicitor to the Ministry of Labour in 1926, and was knighted in 1932. Awarded both the 1935 Jubilee and 1937 Coronation Medals as part of the Ministry of Labour’s allocation, he retired on 1942, and died on 16 October 1961.

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