Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Private H. E. Allcock, 2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, who was killed in action at Radinghem on 18 October 1914 - positively identified 100 years later as one of the ‘Beaucamp Ligny Fifteen’, he was finally laid to rest in 2014 at Y Farm Military Cemetery, Bois Grenier

1914 Star, with clasp (6774 Pte. H. E. Allcock. 2/York: & Lanc: R.); British War and Victory Medals (6774 Pte. H. E. Allcock. Y. & L. R.); Memorial Plaque (Herbert Ernest Allcock) in card envelope, extremely fine (4) £400-£500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Barry Hobbs Collection of Great War Medals.

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Herbert Ernest Allcock was born in 1882 at St. Simon’s, Leeds, the son of Charles and Emma Allcock. He attested for the York and Lancaster Regiment at Pontefract in June 1902 and served eight years with the Colours, three years being spent in India. He rejoined at the outbreak of the Great War and served in France with the 2nd Battalion from 9 September 1914, the battalion initially seeing action during the ‘Race to the Sea’ in October at the Battle of Armentieres. On 18 October 1914, the 2nd Battalion along with the 1st Battalion, Buffs (East Kent Regiment), both of the 16th Infantry Brigade, 6th Division, advanced and took the village of Radinghem in a fast reconnaissance in force before coming under fierce enemy machine gun fire. The two battalions were forced back by an aggressive German counterattack but according to Marden's Short History of the 6th Division, the situation was saved by Major Bayley's company from the Yorks and Lancs, who worked their way around the left flank of the Germans, forcing them to halt their attack. The German regiment opposite was probably the 179th (Saxon) Infantry Regiment of the German Army's 24th Division.

The War Diary of the 2nd York and Lancs tells the story in reasonable detail and a brief personal account from the diary of Sergeant Lewis Sylvester survives in the York and Lancaster Regimental Museum:
‘Radinghem Sunday 18 October. Drove enemy out of positions at bayonet point. Company Casualties 60. Entrenched. Brother wounded by shrapnel.
Monday 19 October. Handed over the position to the Buffs who were very severely handled by the enemy but who kept them back.’

During the engagement on 18 October, the 2nd Yorks and Lancs in fact lost 13 killed, 93 wounded and 27 missing (of whom 21 are believed also to have been killed). 32 of the 34 dead were commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing, the other two being buried in Bois Grenier cemetery. Private Allcock was one of those killed in action whose body was never found.
In 2009, multiple human remains were discovered during an excavation near the crossroads between Radinghem and Beaucamps Ligny. After extensive DNA testing, 11 of the 15 bodies, including that of Allcock were positively identified. The 11 identified men were: Private Herbert Allcock, Private John Brameld, Private William Butterworth, Corporal Francis Dyson, Private Walter Ellis, Private John Jarvis, Private Leonard Morley, Private Ernest Oxer, Private John Richmond, Private William Singyard, and Lance-Corporal William Warr

In 2014, all 15 men were finally laid to rest in a ceremony at Y Farm Military Cemetery, Bois-Grenier, France, attended by many proud descendants. The personal inscription on Allcock’s headstone reads, ‘Husband of Ethel, father of Ellen and Winifred, remembered always.’