Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A well-documented Great War pilot’s campaign pair awarded to 2nd Lieutenant F. P. Arnold, Royal Air Force, late Worcestershire and London Regiments

British War and Victory Medals (2 Lieut.), in original card box of issue and registered forwarding envelope, together with assorted Worcestershire Regiment badges (6), and three identity discs, including a silver “bracelet type”, extremely fine (Lot) £200-250

Frederick Percival Arnold, who was born in Kidderminster in December 1888, enlisted in the Worcestershire Regiment in May 1915 and, having served out in France in October-December 1916 (very probably on the Somme), and attained the rank of Corporal, was discharged to a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 5th Battalion in June 1917. In the following month he appears to have been embarked for service in the East African Expeditionary Force, taking his passage in the R.M.S. Corinthic, but by October he was en route for India where he was appointed - on attachment - a Company Officer in the 1/25th (Cyclists) Battalion, The London Regiment. Then in April 1918 he was embarked for Egypt aboard the S.S. Somali, where he commenced time as a student pilot in the newly established Royal Air Force, in which capacity he was still employed at the end of hostilities. He finally returned home in H.M.T. Kaisar-i-Hind in late December 1918.

Sold with a large quantity of original documentation, including - in chronological order - the recipient’s Soldiers’ Pay Book (Active Service), with entries for the period October to December 1916; a War Office ‘Trench Map’ (France - Somme region); an undated newspaper cutting describing a gallant action by the Worcestershires - ‘Kaiser’s Crack Troops Annihilated’ (presumably an action associated with Arnold’s time in France in 1916); a Character Certificate issued on his discharge to a commission, dated 29 May 1917, which confirms his active service in France in the second half of 1916; R.M.S. Corinthic ‘Crossing the Equator’ card, dated 11 August 1917 and a souvenir concert programme / card for the 27 August, this latter with numerous autographs of fellow passengers; a Liquor Pass issued at the East African Expeditionary Base, Durban, dated 29 August 1917; H.M.T. Royal George smoking concert programme, dated 13 September 1917, and a card / programme for an evening concert, 17 September; a small series of “Battalion Orders”, etc., relating to Arnold’s time in the 1/25th Battalion, London Regiment in India in 1917, together with a regimental Xmas 1917 card; a picture postcard set depicting scenes from Jullundur, India, inscribed to the recipient’s daughter, ‘Miss Mary Arnold’; his Cox & Co. Bank account books, both inscribed to him as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1/25th London Regiment and with entries for the period 1917-20; S.S. Somali musical entertainment programme, dated 24 April 1918; R.F.C. Training Transfer Card, dated 29 May 1918, with list of his training establishments and other entries regarding aircraft types flown, gunnery courses, etc.; a temporary pass, with portrait photograph, for admission to the Military Zone, Aboukir, for the period May-June 1918; the recipient’s Flying Log Book (Army Book 425), with entries for the period July to December 1918; an invitation to a ‘Thanksgiving Celebration for Victory’ at the Gezira Sporting Club, Cairo, 17 December 1918; H.M.T. Kaisar-i-Hind dinner menus for 31 December 1918 and 2 January 1919; his Officers’ Protection Certificate, dated 22 February 1919; two wartime photographic postcards depicting the recipient with fellow officers (easily identified in light of his 6ft. height); an Air Council 1939-45 campaign medal forwarding slip (but with no medal-type or number issued annotation), and a Ministry of Pensions King’s Badge for Loyal Service, in its card box of issue.