Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Six: Honorary Lieutenant Colonel E. R. Kelly, Royal Army Pay Corps, late Essex Regiment and Welsh Regiment, who had his leg amputated as a result of wounds received on 24 March 1918

1914-15 Star (2. Lieut. E. R. Kelly. Welsh R.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. E. R. Kelly); General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine (Major. E. R. Kelly. R.A.P.C.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45, minor contact marks, otherwise very fine and better (6) £80-£100

Edward Rupert Kelly was born in Southsea on 13 September 1891 and originally worked as a fruit farmer in British Columbia from 1911-13. Appointed to a commission as Temporary 2nd Lieutenant, Welsh Regiment 1 February 1915, he proceeded to France and served with the 9th Battalion from 9 February 1915. Placed in command of the Battalion bombers 2 July 1916, the recipient’s Army Service Record states that he received wounds to the jaw, neck and shoulder during the attack on La Boiselle; evacuated home to recover 16 July 1916, Kelly transferred to the Essex Regiment and returned to France on 4 November 1917.

Wounded in the left arm and leg during the German Spring Offensive of 1918, Kelly relinquished his Captaincy 19 March 1919 and joined the Essex Regimental Depot at Warley; a medical board later found him unfit for further General Service due to the amputation of his right leg. Placed on half-pay due to ill-health 24 January 1923, Kelly transferred to the Royal Army Pay Corps as Lieutenant & Paymaster upon completion of probation 27 April 1923. Sent to Palestine from 14 October 1938, he retired as Honorary Lieutenant Colonel having reached the age limit 8 November 1946; he died at the French Hospital in Jerusalem four years later.

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