Medals to The Gordon Highlanders and Associated Units from the Collection of A.J. Henderson

A scarce Great War Italy operations D.S.O., M.C. group of six awarded to Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel W. Gordon, The Gordon Highlanders, who fought at the crossing of the River Piave and commanded the 2nd Battalion in Italy in October 1918

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamels; Military Cross, G.V.R.; 1914-15 Star (2 Lieut., Gord. Highrs.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Major); Italian War Cross, mounted as worn, the first very slightly chipped on obverse wreath and the 1914-15 Star sometime gilded, otherwise good very fine or better (6) £1600-1800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals to The Gordon Highlanders and Associated Units from the Collection of A.J. Henderson.

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See Colour Plate VI.

D.S.O. London Gazette 3 June 1919.

M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1919.

M.I.D. London Gazette 18 April 1918 and 18 January 1919.

Italian War Cross London Gazette 17 May 1919.

William Gordon was born in Aberdour, Banffshire in April 1884 and enlisted in the Gordon Highlanders at Aberdeen in January 1903, aged 18 years. A Company Sergeant-Major in the 2nd Battalion on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he was almost immediately commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in December of the same year, and by the War’s end he had attained the rank of Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel with a Battalion command, an extraordinary feat for a Sergeant of 1914 vintage.

During that period he saw much fighting, is believed to have been wounded by shrapnel at Ypres and served as Adjutant to the 5th Gordons and 4th Seaforth Highlanders. But all was not well, a medical report of October 1916 revealing his near collapse as a result of constant active service at the Front:

‘He was concussed during the Battle of Neuve Chapelle but made a speedy recovery, and was able to carry on his duties as Adjutant. Following the fighting at Loos in September 1915, he began to exhibit symptoms of nervous exhaustion, but recovered to a great extent during a period of rest. He again relapsed after a period of strenuous work for 66 days in the trenches. He suffers from depression, with battle dreams and forgetfulness. He found he could not remember details of his work and at times even how to spell words he was perfectly familiar with. Defective concentration, loss of nerve during shelling, over reaction, palpitation. He is now sleeping well ...’

Returning to the 2nd Gordons in time to participate in the crossing of the River Piave, the gallant Gordon showed every sign of a full recovery, and took command of the Battalion when Lieutenant-Colonel H. A. Ross, D.S.O. was killed in action in October 1918. He afterwards brought it home to a triumphant reception at Aberdeen.

Retiring in the rank of Major in 1922, Gordon was later Town Clerk of Dufftown, Banffshire and was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of that county. A keen shot and fisherman, he died on 17 December 1966.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation and wartime photographs, the former including the recipient’s D.S.O. warrant; M.I.D. certificates (2); Italian War Cross certificate and commission warrant for the rank of 2nd Lieutenant; together with a very substantial quantity of photocopied entries from his service papers.