Auction Catalogue

23 June 2005

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Grand Connaught Rooms  61 - 65 Great Queen St  London  WC2B 5DA

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Lot

№ 900

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23 June 2005

Hammer Price:
£1,200

Three: Lieutenant N. G. S. McGrath, 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen’s Bays), died of wounds suffered at the Battle of Messines 1914

1914 Star, with clasp (Lieut., 2/D. Gds.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut.) together with Memorial Plaque (Noel George Scott McGrath) good very fine (4)

Noel George Scott McGrath was born on 12 December 1885, the eldest son of The Hon. George McGrath, J.P. of ‘Charlemont, Ewarton, Saint Catherine, Jamaica. His father was a senior lawyer there and held the title Custos Rotulorum ‘Keeper of the Rolls’. After schooling in England at Beaumont College, Old Windsor, Berkshire, McGrath was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Jamaica Militia Infantry and then in 1907, 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. Promoted a Lieutenant in February 1912, he transferred to the 2nd Dragoon Guards in October that year.

Upon the outbreak of war, he was sent with his regiment to France, arriving there on 15 August 1914. There he was employed as A.D.C. to the G.O.C. 1st Cavalry Brigade. The brigade saw much action in the retreat from Mons, at Elouges, 24 August 1914, Solesmes, 25 August, Le Cateau, 26 August and Nery, 1 September. McGrath reurned to regimental duty on 2 September 1914 and fought with his unit in the Battle of the Marne, 7-10 September, Battle of the Aisne, 12-15 September and Battle of Messines, 12 October-2 November 1914. During the course of the latter battle, on 31 October 1914, Lieutenant McGrath was dangerously wounded - receiving gunshot wounds to the back, and was evacuated to Boulogne. He died on 5 November 1914 at No.11 General Hospital, Boulogne, as a consequence of the wounds sustained. He was buried in the Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. Sold with a folder of copied research.