Special Collections

Sold on 17 August 2021

1 part

.

The Barry Hobbs Collection of Great War Medals

Barry Hobbs

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Lot

№ 35

.

17 August 2021

Hammer Price:
£440

Pair: Private B. Newnham, 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, who was killed in action on the Western Front on 24 February 1918

British War and Victory Medals (29744 Pte. B. Newnham. G. Gds.); Memorial Plaque (Benjamin Newnham) in card envelope, nearly extremely fine (3)

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Barry Hobbs Collection of Great War Medals.

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Benjamin Ernest Fenner Newnham was born in 1898 at Guildford, Surrey and attested for the Grenadier Guards in 1917. He was killed in action in France on 24 February 1918.

A newspaper cutting with the lot states:
‘Much sympathy will be felt for Mr and Mrs. Newnham of 22 Springfield Road, Guildford, in the loss they have sustained through the death, in action, of their son, Pte. Fenner Newnham, King’s Company, Grenadier Guards. Pte Newnham was 19 years of age and was well known in the town. He was 6ft 4in in height and was the tallest recruit in Surrey when he enlisted eleven months ago. He was an old Sandfield School boy and was formerly employed by the L. and S.W.R. Company of Guildford. Deceased was shot through the throat while he was going into the front line trench.’

Private Newnham is buried in Level Crossing Cemetery, Fampoux, France.

Sold together with a studio photograph of the recipient seated with another soldier standing, both in the uniform of the Grenadier Guards.