Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War ‘Western Front’ M.M. awarded to Sergeant S. Gilleney, Royal Garrison Artillery, who died of wounds on 4 April 1918, six weeks after being awarded a Second Award Bar to his Military Medal

Military Medal, G.V.R. (308110 Cpl. S. Gilleney. 1/2 Hy: By: R.G.A.-T.F.) stain to obverse, slight scratches to reverse, otherwise very fine £400-£500

M.M. London Gazette 30 October 1917.

M.M. Second Award Bar London Gazette 22 February 1918.

Samuel Gilleney, a coal miner from Rainhill, Lancashire, was born in 1886. He attested into the Royal Garrison Artillery on 5 August 1914 for service during the Great War, and served on the Western Front from 1916 with the 1st/2nd Lancashire Heavy Brigade, Royal Garrison Artillery, Territorial Force. He was awarded the Military Medal and Bar before he died of wounds, aged 32, on 4 April 1918, both reported in the following articles.

Prescot and Huyton Reporter, 14 September 1917:
‘The third hero to receive the distinction is Corporal Samuel Gilleney who resided before enlistment at Parkers Row, Rainhill. A soldier friend writing to Mrs. Gilleney said: - “Your son Sam has been awarded the Military Medal for keeping his gun in action after a Bosche shell had set the covering of the gun on fire. It was at a critical time, as the battery was waiting to start the barrage for the boys to go over the top. He has also shown great courage under trying circumstances on quite a number of occasions. All the boys out of our battery are very proud of him, of course myself included. I don't know whether he has let you know or not, but I thought it would be nicer for you to hear it from someone else.”
This hero belongs to the Royal Garrison Artillery. He enlisted on August 5th 1914, and has been in France more that a year and a half. Before the outbreak of hostilities he worked at Lea Green pits, where he was employed for a period of 17 and half years.’

Prescot and Huyton Reporter, 19 April 1918:
‘News has reached Mrs. Gilleney 33, Brook Street, Whiston that her son Sergeant Samuel Gilleney, M.M of the Royal Garrison Artillery, died from wounds in France on the 4th inst. The gallant soldier won the Military Medal last year and since then he has received the bar to the medal and been recommended for the D.C.M. He enlisted on August 5th 1914, and has been in France about three years. Before joining up voluntarily he resided at Parkers Row Rainhill and worked at the Lea Green colliery, where he was employed for a period of 17 and half years. It may be interesting to state that the deceased soldier won the Military Medal under the following circumstances: -
For keeping his gun in action after a Bosche shell had set the covering of the gun on fire. It was at a very critical time as the battery was waiting to start the barrage for the boys to go over the top. He has shown great courage under trying circumstances.’

Gilleney is buried at the Picquigny British Cemetery in France, and is also commemorated on the St. Nicholas War Memorial, Whiston, Lancashire. Gilleney Grove on the Sandstone Estate, Delph Lane, Whiston, Lancashire, is named in both his honour and that of his brother, Thomas Gilleney, who also died from war-related injuries in 1918.

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