Special Collections
Create new listA Great War “German Spring Offensive” M.C. group of six awarded to Captain G. L. Reade, Rifle Brigade, late Royal Fusiliers
Military Cross, G.V.R., the reverse privately engraved ‘Capt. G. L. Reade, 3rd Rif. Brig., March 1918’; 1914-15 Star (6039 Pte., R. Fus.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt.); Defence Medal 1939-45; Special Constabulary Long Service, G.VI.R., 1st issue (George L. Reade), the fourth with officially re-impressed naming, generally good very fine (6) £800-1000
This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals to the Cheshire and Manchester Regiments, Rifle Brigade and Royal Green Jackets formed by the late David Boniface.
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M.C. London Gazette 16 September 1918:
‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during ten days of retirement, when he handled his Company with the greatest courage and skill, and by his personal example gave to all who came into contact with him the utmost confidence. On one occasion he displayed a total disregard of all danger, whilst holding up a large number of the enemy, falling back when outflanked and ordered to do so.’
George Lewis Reade was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire in October 1896 and was educated at Wycliffe College. An undergraduate at St. John’s College, Cambridge about the time of the outbreak of hostilities, he enlisted in the 18th (Public Schools) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers in January 1915 and went out to France as a private soldier - and qualified machine-gunner - in November of the same year. Returning to the U.K. to take up appoinment as an officer cadet in May 1916, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 5th Battalion, Rifle Brigade that October. Subsequently ordered to France with the 3rd Battalion, he won his M.C. for sustained gallantry during the “German Spring Offensive”. Reade was released from military duty in the rank of Captain in May 1919.
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