Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Corporal H. H. Shuttle, 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, who was killed in action at the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August 1914

1914 Star, with clasp (9734 Cpl. H. H. Shuttle. 1/Bedf: R.); British War and Victory Medals (9734 Cpl. H. H. Shuttle. Bedf. R.); Memorial Plaque (Harold Henry Shuttle); Memorial Scroll, ‘Cpl. Harold Henry Shuttle, Bedfordshire Regiment’; together with a Bedfordshire Regiment cap badge, nearly extremely fine (5) £260-£300

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

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Harold Henry Shuttle was born on 18 December 1894 at Chigwell, Essex and attested for the Bedfordshire Regiment in 1911. He served with the 1st Battalion during the Great War as part of the 15th Brigade, 5th Division, on the Western Front from 15 August 1914.

“A” and “B” Companies engaged the enemy at Wasmes on 23 August 1914, coming under fire from enemy field guns, their shallow trenches offering little protection. The Battalion then reunited at Paturages on 24 August and beat off the advancing enemy whilst inflicting heavy casualties. Withdrawing to Bavai and then Le Cateau on 26 August, they then took up a position near Troisville facing Le Cateau-Cambrai road, the 5th Division holding the right of the line from a point halfway between Le Cateau and Reumont, to Troisville, with the 15th Brigade covering the left half of the line, just east of Troisville.

As they waited for the inevitable onslaught, the men tried to deepen their trenches:
‘The mist started clearing mid morning and the first German guns opened up on the British positions. Although it started slowly, the bombardment gradually picked up pace and determination until the sheer scale of it almost overwhelmed the thin British lines. The weight of the German attack fell on the right and centre of the 5th Division’s lines, to the right of the Bedfordshires, which was II Corps most vulnerable flank with the least support. As the afternoon wore on, rifle and machine gun fire increased in intensity, especially on the right flank, and column after column of German infantry assaulted the British positions.
In a replay of events at Mons, intense and accurate British rifle fire and field guns firing over open sights from positions alongside the infantry held the Germans back. During the assault, the Bedfords themselves were spared the attentions of the German Infantry and contented themselves with providing supporting fire to the units on their right when the opportunity arose...
By 4pm the bulk of the 5th Division was already retiring and orders reached the Bedfordshires to ‘retire by bounds’ if possible. They were to make their rearguard action deliberately slow and ensure the advancing enemy paid dearly, thereby allowing the main body to get away as unmolested as possible. To their right the King’s Own Scottish Borderers retired and A, B and C Companies followed suit in small groups. D Company on the extreme left was pinned down by intense machine-gun fire but got away eventually, Captain William Wagstaff from D Company being wounded in the thigh during the withdrawal.’ (1st Bedfordshires Part 1: Mons to the Somme by Steven Fuller refers)

The War Diary records casualties as being mercifully light - around 30 killed or wounded, Private Shuttle being among those killed. He was the son of Frederick and Emma Matilda Shuttle, of 5, Smeaton Road, Woodford Bridge, Essex and, having no known grave, is commemorated on the La Ferte-sous-Jouarre Memorial, France.