Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Private J. Clark, 1st Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, who was killed in action at Vailly during the Battle of the Aisne on 15 September 1914

1914 Star, with clasp (7829 Pte. J. Clarke. [sic] 1/Linc: R.); British War and Victory Medals (7829 Pte. J. Clark. Linc. R.); Memorial Plaque (Joseph Clark) 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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Joseph Clark was born in Tattershall, Lincolnshire and attested there for the Lincolnshire Regiment in 1906. He embarked for India with the 2nd Battalion in December 1908, was with the 1st Battalion at Aden in 1911 and served with the 1st Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 13 August 1914. Having fought at Mons, Le Cateau, the Retreat from Mons, and the Marne, the 1st Lincolnshire Regiment crossed the Aisne at Vailly on 13 September and took up positions on the ridge south west of Rouge Maison Farm where, the following day, they were attacked by ‘wave after wave’ of the enemy. Major-General Simpson in his regimental history noted how many of the Battalion’s rifles had become clogged with mud, making rapid defensive fire difficult. After a successful counter attack by B and D Companies, supported by the 4th Royal Fusiliers, escalating casualty rates forced the battalion to fall back across the river to a railway cutting. Here the survivors were heavily shelled and later returned north of the river to Vailly. Over 180 officers and men were killed, wounded or missing as a result of the encounter. The following day, 15 October 1914, Private Clark was one of 5 men of the battalion officially regarded as having been killed as the battalion moved forward again to support positions north of Vailly.

Joseph Clark’s positively identified remains were exhumed from an unmarked grave at Vailly-sur-Aisne on 7 March 1923 and reburied by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission at Vailly British Cemetery, France.