Partially erased 1914-15 Star attributed to Pte E W Lawrence, 3rd London Rgt, wounded in action at Gallipoli

Partially erased 1914-15 Star attributed to Pte E W Lawrence, 3rd London Rgt, wounded in  action at Gallipoli

Impressed:

237[9]

Pte [E].W. L[A]W□□□CE

3-[L][O][N]□ R.

Possibly 2379 Pte E.W. LAWRENCE 3-LON R.

Edwin William Lawrence was born about 1895 in Paddington, Middlesex. He enlisted on 3 September 1914 aged 19 years 6 months. He was a clerk in civil life. He gave as his next of kin his father, also Edwin W, of 28 Alperton Street  Paddington. Edwin the younger served with the 2/3rd Battalion the London Regiment. First sent to Malta in December 1914 to relieve the 1/3rd Battalion in garrison there (where the opportunity was taken to train the recruits), he served in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan as part of the Khartoum garrison between about 15 April 1915 and 13 September 1915

He  then went to Gallipoli via Port Sudan, Port Said and Mudros, leaving around 15 September, landing at Suvla Bay to join the campaign on 26 September. The battalion was attached to the Regulars of 86th Brigade in 29th Division and assigned to 'C' section of the 'Dublin Castle' sector of the line. The battalion spent the next two months holding the trenches, losing half its strength in the process, Pte Lawrence amongst them. He received a severe gun shot wound to both feet on 15 October at Gallipoli and, after admission to 15th General Hospital, was invalided home to England via the Hospital Ship 'Asturias' on the 29th. Pte Lawrence was discharged due to wounds, under paragraph 392(xvi) of King's Regulations*, on 16 August 1916 and was entitled to the Silver War Badge, number 89735. A pension record ledger entry subsequently gave him addresses in Birmingham and at Holly House Newtown near Hyde, Manchester.

*No longer physically fit for war service

Royal Fusiliers casualty: Lance Corporal E L Burdekin, 17th (Service) Battalion (Empire), March 1916

Holder's service details:

Edward L Burdekin
Regiment or Corps: Royal Fusiliers
Regimental Number: E/786

Private, then Lance Corporal. Entered France & Flanders theatre 17 November 1915, killed in action 11 March 1916.

Edward Lewis Burdekin
Birth Place: St. Giles, London
Residence: Hampstead Road, N.w.
Death Date: 17 Mar 1916
Death Place: France and Flanders
Enlistment Place: London
Rank: L Corporal
Regiment: London Regiment
Battalion: 17th Battalion
Regimental Number: E/786
Type of Casualty: Killed in action
Theatre of War: Western European Theatre

E L Burdekin
Military Year: 1914-1915
Rank: Lance Corporal
Medal Awarded: 1914-15 Star
Regiment or Corps: Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)
Regimental Number: E/786
Sub Unit: 17th Battalion

Edward Lewis Burdekin
Military Year: 1914-1920
Rank: Lance Corporal
Medal Awarded: British War Medal and Victory Medal
Regiment or Corps: Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)
Regimental Number: E/786
Previous Units: 17/R. Fus. Pte. E/786

17th (Service) Battalion (Empire)

Formed in London on 31 August 1914 by the British Empire Committee.

26 June 1915 : came under command of 99th Brigade, 33rd Division.

Landed in France on 17 November 1915.

25 November 1915 : transferred with the Brigade to 2nd Division.

13 December 1915 : transferred to 5th Brigade, 2nd Division.

6 February 1918 : transferred to 6th Brigade in same Division.

Medal condition:

Extremely Fine. Mounted and glazed.

A broken infantry trio: Pte Harry Lee, 6th Battalion, Queen's (West Surrey) Regiment and Labour Corps

Holder's details:

Harry Lee
Regiment or Corps: Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment, Labour Corps
Regimental Number: 5197, 396568

Re-enlisted. LC: new no 98047

Entered France & Flanders theatre 20-10-15

1914-15 Star Roll

Name: Harry Lee
Military Year: 1914-1915
Rank: Private
Medal Awarded: 1914-15 Star
Regiment or Corps: Labour Corps
Regimental Number: 396568
Previous Units: 6 R.W. Surr. R. 5197 Pte.

BWM/VM Roll
Harry Lee
Military Year: 1914-1920
Rank: Private
Medal Awarded: British War Medal and Victory Medal
Regiment or Corps: Labour Corps
Regimental Number: 396568
Previous Units: 5197 Pte R W Surr R.

Notes on the history of the battalion and regiment:

The Queen's is the senior English line regiment in the British Army and second most senior regiment overall, after the Royal Scots. It raised six active service battalions during The Great War. The 6th (Service) Battalion was formed at Guildford in August 1914 as part of Kitchener's First New Army (K1) in August 1914 and placed under the command of 37th Brigade, 12th (Eastern) Division.

Medal condition:

Both Very Fine. Victory Medal has original ribbon.

XXIX

France and Flanders 1915: Private Charles Campbell of the King's Liverpool Regiment

Details of holder's service:

13145 Pte Charles Campbell, 4th Battalion King's (Liverpool) Regiment. Entitled Victory Medal, British War Medal, 1914-15 Star (date of entry to French theatre, 04/03/15).

(See photo of 4th KLR in action: British infantry from the 4th Battalion, the King's (Liverpool) Regiment, lying in "scrapes", prepare to face a German attack, 1915.

Photo published in The War Illustrated, 12 June 1915. Caption reads:

"COLD STEEL!" BRITISH ABOUT TO CHARGE.— A wonderfully vivid photograph of Germans assaulting British trenches. The oncoming enemy is seen in the left-hand corner while our soldiers, with bayonets fixed and every nerve strained to the limit of human endurance, anxiously await the inspiring command "Charge!" from their officer, standing in the centre. The moment is tense, the most thrilling in human strife. In a flash our "Tommies" will be "up and at 'em!"

Medal condition:

Fine, almost total loss of gilding.

A broken trio: Pte HA Buttivant ASC's Victory Medal and 1914-15 Star

Victory Medal and 1914-15 Star to SS/8611 Pte Henry Albert Buttivant 8 L. Coy. ASC

Potted history of the Labour Companies and their use on the Western Front:

It was early on realised that local labour would be insufficient to off-load ships, supply and maintain communications for the troops on the Western Front. For this reason, specialised labourers were recruited and by December 1914 five labour companies of the Army Service Corps were formed for this task with more following, over thirty in total.

The 8th Labour Company was used on the lines of communications and undertook a range of labouring tasks including road repairs and moving goods and ammunition. They undertook this duty alongside a number of other units including Chinese and Indian labour squads, Pioneer battalions of infantry regiments and others.

Following the creation of the Labour Corps to bring some coherence to the patchwork of labour detachments on the Western Front in early to mid-1917, the 8th Labour Company, ASC became 718 Company of the Labour Corps. In October 1917 they were in the Abbeville area, moving in January 1918 to work in the area occupied by XVIII Corps.

The holder's probable service:

SS/8611(S standing for supply, and SS for a trade within that grouping) Pte Henry Albert Buttivant served with 8 L. Coy. ASC ("Labour Company") and Labour Corps. He entered the France and Flanders theatre of War on 25 April 1915, hence his entitlement to the 1914-15 Star.

The fact that he started off in an ASC Labour Company, and ended up in the Labour Corps, which absorbed all 38 ASC Labour Companies in 1917, leads me to imagine that he was in the same unit throughout. As noted above, the deployments of 718 Company give an idea of where Pte Buttivant might have served

Medal entitlement and service numbers:

(Extract from his entries on the RASC and Labour Corps medal rolls)

Military Year: 1914-1920
Rank: Private
Medal Awarded: British War Medal and Victory Medal
Regiment or Corps: Labour Corps
Regimental Number: 309110
Previous Units: SS/8611 Pte R.A.S.C.

Henry Albert Buttivant
Military Year: 1914-1915
Rank: Private
Medal Awarded: 1914-15 Star
Regiment or Corps: Labour Corps
Regimental Number: 309110
Previous Units: 8 L. Coy. R.A.S.C. 8611 Pte

Some possible family history:

I have done a little name research and only one Henry Albert Buttivant comes up, a cabinet maker from Lambeth - it appears possible that it may be him. He appears in the 1911 census, as father of one of the parties (although not as a witness) for two weddings in 1916 and in the 1919 and successive electoral rolls. An interesting basis for some further research.