Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Private W. Clayden, 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, who was killed in action near Gheluvelt during the First Battle of Ypres on 7 November 1914

1914 Star (7682 Pte. W. Clayden. 1/Bedf: R.) in named card box of issue; British War and Victory Medals (7682 Pte. W. Clayden. Bedf. R.) in slightly damaged named card box of issue; Memorial Plaque (Walter Clayden) in card envelope, 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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Walter Clayden was born in 1882 at Lexden, Essex and enlisted in the Bedfordshire Regiment at Colchester in September 1903. He served with the 1st Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 16 August 1914 as part of the 15th Brigade, 5th Division in Smith-Dorrien’s II Corps, his battalion coming under fire at Mons on 23 August and also three days later in a stand at Troisville during the Battle of Le Cateau in which the 5th Division won 3 Victoria Crosses. After services on the Marne, the Aisne and at the Battle of La Bassée, the 1st Bedfords took over trenches in a wood south of the Ypres-Menin road at Gheluvelt on 6 November. The following day the enemy gained part of the line on their left which was reclaimed in a counter attack the same day, the fighting coming at a cost of the lives of 49 men of the battalion, including that of Private Clayden. Another source notes the loss of 7 officers and 140 other ranks killed, wounded or missing on 7 November 1914. Bob Pigg of the 1st Bedford’s later wrote of this day:
‘The fighting at Ypres was terrible. We had eighteen days in the trenches and I can tell it put years on me. The first day we got there we had to do a charge, a thing I shall never forget. We lost 332. I saw as many as 12 buried in one grave.’

He was the wife of Agnes Laura Clayden of 55 Maidenburgh Street, Colchester, Essex and is commemorated on Le Touret Memorial, France.