Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War period copy Victoria Cross worn by Private D. R. Lauder, V.C., Royal Scots Fusiliers, contained in the recipient’s original V.C. case of issue

Victoria Cross, copy, the reverse of the suspension bar engraved ‘No. 7709 Pte. D. R. Lauder, 1/4th. Bn. R. Scots Fus.’, reverse of Cross dated ‘13. Aug. 1915’, engraved in the official style and housed in the recipient’s original Great War period case of issue, brown leather and gilt-tooled, the inner lid of the hinged case inscribed ‘Hancocks & Co. Jewellers, Silversmiths, to the King. 25, Sackville Street, London, W.’, the Cross nearly very fine, the case in very good condition (2) £600-£800

V.C. London Gazette 13 January 1917
‘For most conspicuous bravery when with a bombing party retaking a sap. Private Lauder threw a bomb, which failed to clear the parapet and fell amongst the bombing party. There was no time to smother the bomb, and Private Lauder at once put his foot on it, thereby localising the explosion. His foot was blown off, but the remainder of the party through this act of sacrifice escaped unhurt.’

David Ross Lauder was born at Easter Glentore, near Airdrie, Scotland, on 31 January 1894, and attested for the Royal Scots Fusiliers (Territorial Force). Mobilised on 4 August 1914, he served with the 1st/4th Battalion during the Great War in Gallipoli from 6 June 1915, and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallantry at the Vineyard, south-west of Krithia, Gallipoli, on 13 August 1915. Severely wounded, he was evacuated to Malta, and then to the U.K., where he was fitted with an artificial leg, prior to being discharged in January 1917. He was invested with his Victoria Cross by H.M. King George V at Buckingham Palace on 3 March 1917.

Provenance: Lauder’s Victoria Cross first appeared on the market at Sotheby’s in 1979 and this copy, worn regularly by the recipient, was included in the sale. When the then buyer resold it at Christie’s in 1994, he retained the copy VC as a memento and subsequently gifted it to the present vendor.