Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

1914-15 Star (250 Pte. H. I. Lock. Ceylon Plr. R.C.) good very fine, scarce to unit £60-£80

Herbert Ingram Lock served with the Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps before being commissioned into the South Lancashire Regiment (attached Machine Gun Corps) as Lieutenant. Research shows that there was a H. I. Lock working as assistant manager at the Nagahatenne K29 Tea Estate near Elpitiya in 1914, presumably the same man.

The Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps was a regiment attached to the Ceylon Defence Force, the predecessor to the Ceylon Army which was formed in 1949. It was a volunteer regiment based in Kandy and made up solely of European tea and rubber planters. The regiment sent a force of eight officers and 229 other ranks to Egypt in September 1914 (Lock’s MIC show he was amongst their number) where they were deployed in defence of the Suez Canal. After which the unit was transferred to the Australia New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) and in 1915 was dispatched to Anzac Cove (‘Z’ Beach) on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The CPRC also performed operational duties as guards to ANZAC headquarters staff.

Lock is shown as being entitled to the Silver War Badge.