Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Corporal A. E. Boardman, 1/1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment, who was killed in action near Ypres on 18 November 1914 - a member of 12 Platoon, E Company, he is clearly identifiable in the well known photograph of his unit taken at Letchworth Train Station immediately following the outbreak of War

1914 Star (2270 Cpl. A. E. Boardman. 1/1 Herts: R.); British War and Victory Medals (2270 Cpl. A. E. Boardman. Herts. R.); Memorial Plaque (Arthur Ernest Boardman) with Buckingham Palace enclosure, nearly extremely fine (4) £240-£280

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

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Arthur Edwin Boardman was born in 1893 at Hove, Sussex and was a resident of Herne Hill, Surrey. He attested for the Hertfordshire Regiment, Territorial Force, on 26 June 1912 and was promoted Corporal in June 1913. A Journalist by profession, he was mobilised on the outbreak of war and served with E Company of the 1/1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment on the Western Front from 6 November. He was killed in action in the early hours of the morning on 18 November as he went from trench to trench with ration supplies, close to Zillebeke, near Ypres. Shortly before his death he was warned, ‘Watch out for the machine guns - they are lively tonight,’ to which he is said to have replied, ‘Never mind that - I have to look after feeding the men.’

He was the son of Leonard Duncan and Eliza Ann Boardman of 238 Croydon Road, Caterham Valley, Surrey and, having no known grave, is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.

Corporal Boardman and his comrades in 12 Platoon, E Company, 1st Hertfordshire Regiment were photographed standing in full kit on the platform at Letchworth train station immediately after the outbreak of war in August 1914. Having been called to their war stations on 4 August 1914, the Territorials in this famous photograph were waiting for a train to take them to Norfolk to complete three months of training, after which they joined the British Expeditionary Force. Boardman was the first member of the platoon to be killed after their arrival on the Western Front. A copy of a Daily Mail article re the aforementioned photograph is with the lot.

Also sold together with a photograph of the recipient in uniform, 53mm x 36mm; named Record Office enclosure for the 1914 Star; named Record Office enclosure for the British War and Victory Medals; a 1914 Princess Mary Christmas Card with envelope.