Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Captain and Adjutant R. E. Drake, 1st Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, who was mortally wounded during a successful attempt made by the battalion to capture a German battery at the Battle of the Marne on 8 September 1914, and was posthumously Mentioned in Despatches

1914 Star, with later slide clasp (Capt: & Adjt: R. E. Drake. Linc. R.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. R. E. Drake.) nearly extremely fine (3) £800-£1,200

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

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M.I.D. London Gazette 20 October 1914.

Robert Edward Drake, the son of the Rev. John Drake, was born at Great Wratting, Suffolk in 1878. He was educated at Lancing College, Sussex and was in the 3rd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment (Militia) from 1899-1900. In April of the latter year he received a commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, becoming Lieutenant in May 1902 and Captain in August 1912. He was appointed Adjutant of his battalion in November 1913 and following the outbreak of the Great War arrived in France as part of the original British Expeditionary Force on 13 August 1914. Having fought at Mons and Le Cateau, his battalion stopped retreating at Liverdy, outside Paris on 5 September and three days later had re-crossed the Marne and arrived at the village of Bezu.

Here, Captain Drake was mortally wounded as C and D Companies attacked and captured German guns west of the village. The regimental history provides the following details:
‘Whilst the 1st Lincolnshire was halted in a field near Bezu, Lieut.-Colonel Smith, commanding the battalion, received a message from the Brigade, informing him that “a German battery was doing serious damage by shelling our column approaching the Marne,” and telling him to try and capture it. The country north of the Marne is very hilly and wooded. In fact, the 14th Brigade of the 5th Division, “was swallowed up by the woods for more than an hour.” (Official History Vol. 4 pp. 289, 290.)
Lieut.-Colonel Smith, with two companies, C and D, worked through the woods west of Bezu, crept up to within one hundred and fifty yards of the guns and shot down the German gunners, and their escort, almost to a man. Dashing out of the thicket to secure the guns, however, they were fired upon by the 65th (Howitzer) Battery, and compelled again to seek cover with a loss of four officers [Drake killed and 3 wounded] and some thirty men killed or wounded. This unfortunate mistake arose from the 65th Battery believing that the German battery had been silenced by some other British artillery and that the men of the Lincolnshire were German gunners returning to their abandoned guns. The guns were removed by the 5th Divisional Ammunition Column next morning and removed to Coulommiers, whence they were despatched to England. One of the guns was formerly to be seen at the Royal United Service Institution, but was removed to the depot of the Regiment at Lincoln in 1928.’ (The History of the Lincolnshire Regiment 1914-1918 edited by Major-General C. R. Simpson, C.B. refers)

Initially buried nearby by an unknown British officer, Drake’s remains were later exhumed and, having been formally identified by his Lincolnshire Regiment collar badges and spurs and his boots made by J. J. Lillington of 88 High St. Portsmouth, were re-interred in November 1920 in Bezu-le-Guery Communal Cemetery, France. A plaque to his memory is in St. Mary’s Church, Great Wratting.