Medals to the Liverpool Regiment from the Collection of Hal Giblin

A fine Great War ‘Arras’ M.C. group of four awarded to Second Lieutenant J. W. Simpson, 9th Battalion, attached 20th (‘Pals’) Battalion, Liverpool Regiment, formerly 10th (Scottish) Battalion, who was severely wounded in the charge at Hooge on 16 June 1915, where he received medical aid on the battlefield from Captain Noel Chavasse, V.C. and bar, and was subsequently killed in action at Passchendaele on 1 August 1917

Military Cross, G.V.R., reverse inscribed ‘2nd Lt., 20th K.L.R., Mercutel, Arras, 9th April 1917’; 1914-15 Star (3577 Pte., L’pool. R.); British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut.) nearly extremely fine (4) £1000-1200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals to the Liverpool Regiment from the Collection of Hal Giblin.

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M.C. London Gazette 18 July 1917 ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He led his platoon with great coolness and ability throughout the barrage although it suffered heavy casualties. Finding himself almost without men, he took command of another platoon and reorganising, the two attacked together.’

Second Lieutenant John Wyckliffe Simpson was born in 1893 and educated at the Collegiate School, Liverpool, where he captained the football team. After leaving school he secured a position in the Liverpool branch of the Royal Insurance Company, volunteering for the Liverpool Scottish in September 1914 and was present with the first replacement draft sent to Flanders in January 1915. He took part in the engagements at St Eloi and Hill 60 before being wounded in the charge at Hooge on 16 June 1915, where he was shot through the lung and arm, receiving first aid from Doctor Chavasse, (later awarded a V.C. and bar and an M.C.) on the battlefield before being sent to the rear (archive material at London Scottish Museum confirms). A year later, having recovered his fitness, he attended an officer cadet training course and was gazetted a Second Lieutenant in the 9th Battalion, Liverpool Regiment in October 1916. In the following January he was attached to the 20th (Pals) Battalion of the King’s, with whom he was killed in action at Passchendaele) on 1 August 1917. His name is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.

A lengthy obituary including a fine portrait of Second Lieutenant Simpson appears in The Liverpool Scroll of Fame from which the following quotes are extracted:

‘On behalf of the platoon, the Lance-Corporal wrote “Mr Simpson was our platoon officer, he was a gentleman and a hero. The platoon was stunned when they heard of his death, and we all miss him terribly, but we all thought it our duty to write to you as we all thought so much of him.”

The Company Sergeant Major records “I have been in action with Mr Simpson several times, and know the N.C.O’s. and men had the greatest confidence in him as their leader, and on the occasion when he won the Military Cross I have seldom seen anyone cooler or more determined under very heavy shell and machine gun fire. It is hardly too much to say the men almost worshipped him.”

The Colonel narrates, “He was leading his platoon just in the same way as he would lead the battalion football side, always a cheerful word, and encouraging his men. Loved by his brother officers and men, the battalion has lost an officer whose place it will be impossible to fill.”