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I purchased the QSA/KSA/ Kimberley Star group to 5302 Corporal Charles Lewis LNLR at the recent DNW auction.



This came with medal roll confirmation but nothing else. Fortunately his papers are preserved on both Ancestry and FMP. These reveal that Lewis enlisted in Liverpool in 1896 at the age of 19 and saw service with the 1st Battalion in Ceylon prior to the Boer war and moved with the Regiment to South Africa in February 1899 where he remained until September 1902. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1906 . He had some disciplinary problems related to alcohol but was further promoted to CQMS just prior to the outbreak of WW1 in July 1914. He went out with the battalion as part of the BEF and his Medal Index Card shows his date of disembarkation as 12th August 1914.



The remainder of his story is both tragic and puzzling. On the 22nd August 1914, the OC St. Stanislas Hospital. Nantes, reports his admission to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the left side of his chest and he is evacuated to England on the 4th October, where he receives further treatment at the Western General Hospital Liverpool.



The puzzle for me is the date of his wounding. I am not an expert on the first world war but know that the first fatality of the Battle of Mons and the war occurred on 21st August and the battle proper didn't get underway until the 23rd. Nantes is 386 miles from Mons. If he was admitted on the 22nd, it seems likely his wounding occurred on the 21st or earlier. There is no mention of early casualties in the 1st Battalion War diary or the regimental history. It is possible that this was an accidental injury but I am unable to find any confirmation of that. However this remains a very early WW1 casualty group!

This story does not have a happy ending. He reverted to the rank of sergeant at his own request on the 12th September 1914 and was posted to the 3rd (reserve) battalion based in Felixstowe on the 4th October 1914. His rank was restored on the 27th January 1915 but he committed suicide on the 4th June 1915 and is buried with a CWGC headstone in Felixstowe cemetery. The papers include correspondence from 1920 trying to trace his NOK for delivery of his plaque and scroll and the medal index card shows his medals were returned. His full group would include the 1914 star with clasp, BWM and VM but it seems probable that these no longer exist.

DunnBoer,

A very nice trio with a very sad ending. It is a great shame that his medals and plaque could not be issued to the family and thus separated from him other medals.

It is excellent that he is remembered here.

That is certainly a very pleasing trio and only very seldom seen on the marketplace these days.
It is always nice to see an original broach with a Kimberley star, is the star the one original to the group?
I would think it is certainly possible that the date of admission to hospital is simply an error.

dunnboer wrote: I purchased the QSA/KSA/ Kimberley Star group to 5302 Corporal Charles Lewis LNLR at the recent DNW auction.

This came with medal roll confirmation but nothing else. Fortunately his papers are preserved on both Ancestry and FMP. These reveal that Lewis enlisted in Liverpool in 1896 at the age of 19 and saw service with the 1st Battalion in Ceylon prior to the Boer war and moved with the Regiment to South Africa in February 1899 where he remained until September 1902. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1906 . He had some disciplinary problems related to alcohol but was further promoted to CQMS just prior to the outbreak of WW1 in July 1914. He went out with the battalion as part of the BEF and his Medal Index Card shows his date of disembarkation as 12th August 1914.

The remainder of his story is both tragic and puzzling. On the 22nd August 1914, the OC St. Stanislas Hospital. Nantes, reports his admission to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the left side of his chest and he is evacuated to England on the 4th October, where he receives further treatment at the Western General Hospital Liverpool.

The puzzle for me is the date of his wounding. I am not an expert on the first world war but know that the first fatality of the Battle of Mons and the war occurred on 21st August and the battle proper didn't get underway until the 23rd. Nantes is 386 miles from Mons. If he was admitted on the 22nd, it seems likely his wounding occurred on the 21st or earlier. There is no mention of early casualties in the 1st Battalion War diary or the regimental history. It is possible that this was an accidental injury but I am unable to find any confirmation of that. However this remains a very early WW1 casualty group!

This story does not have a happy ending. He reverted to the rank of sergeant at his own request on the 12th September 1914 and was posted to the 3rd (reserve) battalion based in Felixstowe on the 4th October 1914. His rank was restored on the 27th January 1915 but he committed suicide on the 4th June 1915 and is buried with a CWGC headstone in Felixstowe cemetery. The papers include correspondence from 1920 trying to trace his NOK for delivery of his plaque and scroll and the medal index card shows his medals were returned. His full group would include the 1914 star with clasp, BWM and VM but it seems probable that these no longer exist.

Hi Frank,
This star is a bit of a puzzle! It is engraved on the reverse which is partly the reason I bought the group.



I have no reason to think this is other than contemporary engraving. The puzzle is that the star completely lacks the hallmark or makers mark. It feels right in every other respect and even has the little lion hallmark on the suspension ring which I have never seen in a copy.



I cannot explain the absent hallmark. I suppose it could have been polished out to allow the engraving but there is no evidence of this. I think it is most likely that it was simply missed in the process of hallmarking a batch of stars. Has anyone else come across an unhallmarked but other wise genuine looking star?

Paul

Hello Paul, sorry for late reply.
I think I would feel quite happy to regard the star as Lewis's own, given the engraving, the reason that I asked was simply that most original stars given to members of his battalion bare the sixth cycle Birmingham marks for 1902-03. the lion passant on the ring is certainly a generic point to note on these stars.
I dare say the missing marks are nothing more than a rare error, to be quite honest, I don't think it matters too much really.
With the casualty date, I had always believed that the regiment had been part of the 2nd Infantry Brigade, 1st Division of Haig's 1 Corps, therefore, they would have taken up position facing east, well to the south of Mons, between the Mons Conde canal and the river Sambre.
Given the disposition of the regiment, I would be compelled to think that if the date shown in WO363 is correct, then two possibilities present themselves, he was either detached from his battalion for some reason, or, he was possibly the victim of an accidental discharge, very unfortunate if so.
On Friday the 21st, French issued an order sending the Cavalry Division to Thulin to act as a flank guard once the Infantry Brigades were actually in position.
On Saturday the 22nd, at daybreak, the 2nd Cavalry Brigade had pushed a few of it's scouts all the way out to Obourg and it was they who fired the opening shots of the war as far as the BEF was concerned, when they chanced upon some of their opposite numbers from an Uhlan regiment.
On Sunday the 23rd it was actually members of 2 Corps that held the line of the canal that were heavily engaged, with 1 Corps taking virtually no part whatsoever.
All of that makes me wonder about the date given for that wound, of course, the reality is that we will be unlikely to ever know for certain.
If he had not got the chop when he did, I would have been very surprised if he had come through, by September, his regiment had almost gone and with it, most of the BEF, the last of the red little army, gone for ever.
Still a very fine group though, I would be very happy indeed with it.
Regards Frank