Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A post-War ‘Northern Ireland’ B.E.M. group of four awarded to Corporal W. P. J. Lord, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (West Riding), whose military career was cut short after being hit by a brick on the Falls Road, West Belfast

British Empire Medal, (Military) E.II.R. (23732587 Cpl. W. P. J. Lord. DWR.); U.N. Medal, on UNFICYP riband, unnamed as issued; General Service 1962-2007, 1 clasp, Northern Ireland (23732587 Pte. W. P. J. Lord DWR); Army L.S. & G.C., E.II.R., 1st issue, Regular Army (23732587 Cpl W P J Lord DWR) minor scratch to obverse of GSM, good very fine (4) £600-£800

B.E.M. (Military) London Gazette 20 March 1978:
‘In recognition of Meritorious Service in Northern Ireland during the period 1st August 1977 to 31st October 1977.’

William Peter John Lord was born in 1942 and baptised at Ramsey on the Isle of Man. Married at Halifax in 1963, he served in Londonderry in the autumn of 1977 with the 1st Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. This coincided with a two-day visit to Northern Ireland by the Queen as part of her Silver Jubilee celebrations of 9 and 10 August 1977, and a period of high tension caused by the murder of Margaret Hearst, a 24 year-old member of the Ulster Defence Regiment, who was shot by the I.R.A. in her parent’s home, near Tynan, County Armagh.

The award of the B.E.M. to Lord and one other soldier of the regiment, was recorded in The Iron Duke, which states: ‘Finally, on a sad note, our sympathies are conveyed to Cpl. Lord, BEM, who is being medically discharged due to a serious eye injury which was received when he was hit by a brick whilst travelling in a vehicle on the Falls Road.’

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