A Collection of Medals to the South Wales Borderers

1914 Star (2) (7339 Pte. G. W. Mileham. S. Wales Bord.; 13237 Pte. F. Jones. S. Wales Bord.) good very fine (2) £100-£140

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the South Wales Borderers.

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George William Mileham was born in Leeds, Yorkshire in 1886, and attested for the South Wales Borderers in York on 22 July 1902, giving his age as 18 years and 5 months. He was posted to South Africa with the 2nd Battalion, serving there from 8 November 1902 to 19 March 1904, and then on to India from 20 March 1904 to 8 February 1905 after which he transferred to the Army Reserve. Following the outbreak of the Great War he was recalled to the Colours on 5 August 1914, and served with the 1st Battalion on the Western Front from 22 September 1914, being severely wounded in the left forearm at Vendresse, the Aisne, on 3 October 1914. He returned to England on 11 November 1914 and was discharged on 8 November 1916 as no longer fit for war duty. He died in Leeds in 1968.

Frederick Jones was born in Leominster, Herefordshire, in 1878, and attested for the South Wales Borderers at Newport on 26 August 1914, having previously served with the Royal Scots from 1897 to 1904, although no Boer War medal entitlement has been found in the rolls. He served with the 1st Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 18 September 1914, and received a gun-shot wound to the left ankle on 3 November 1914. At this stage during the First Battle of Ypres, the 1st Battalion, South Wales Borderers, having just endured Gheluvelt, had been tasked with recovering the trenches lost beyond the Herenthage Woods. Jones was with ‘A’ Company and the Regimental History describes the only casualties for this time as follows:
‘Lieutenant Salmon, who with half of “A” Company had taken part in the attack, the remainder being back in reserve, was wounded in the arm and several of his men were hit.’

Jones was transferred to Boulogne Hospital on 6 November 1914 and from there to 2nd Western General Hospital, Lancaster on 15 November 1914. He remained in England until a medical assessment approved him capable of light duties and on 23 May 1915 he arrived in Gibraltar where he spent the remainder of the war serving with the 1st Garrison Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers. He was discharged to the class Z reserve on 27 March 1919.

Sold with copied Medal Index Cards and service papers.