Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Drummer B. E. Robertson, 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, who was killed in action near Gheluvelt during the First Battle of Ypres on 16 November 1914

1914 Star (9234 Dmr: B. E. Robertson, 1/Bedf: R.); British War and Victory Medals (9234 Pte. B. E. Robertson. Bedf. R.) good very fine (3) £140-£180

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

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Bertram Ernest Robertson was born in 1892 at Slough, Berkshire and resided in Godalming, Surrey prior to attesting for the Bedfordshire Regiment in 1908. 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. A section of the line on the left was lost to the Prussian Guard on the 7th and reclaimed at considerable cost (150 officers and men killed or wounded) in a counter attack the same day.

Men continued to fall to the regular shelling and smaller German assaults over the following week with Drummer Robertson being one of five men of the battalion killed on 16 November 1914. He was the husband of Dorothy Rachel Robertson and, having no known grave, is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.