TOPIC:

QUOTE - Anyway, do you think it will ever be possible to check the the validity of the award of such as the WW2 BWM and Defence Medal when they are present with earlier medals such as the QSA, etc? I realise that a document came with the WW2 medals; however, mostly lost I would think.

Hi,

I have seen mention on another forum that UK WW2 Medal Rolls may be in the process of digitisation.

In respect of any named individual their medal entitlement should be noted on their service record which can be obtained from the appropriate branch of service on payment of £30.

Regards

Steve Y

This is the medal group referred to in my earlier post (#21445).

Brett

Doesn't include a QSA but an unusual SA combination nonetheless so post it! Coming up at Mellors and Kirk on 17 September

The remarkable group of medals shown by Justin belonged to WO(1) Walter ("Uncle Watty") Fairall JCD. He joined the Natal Carbineers as a 14 year old Bugler in 1902 and eventually retired in 1965. Amongst his other duties and achievements, he was the custodian of the regimental silver from 1925 until 1971. He died in 1976 aged 87.

Brett

A very remarkable group to Fairall. It sounds like he just missed the Boer War too.

The Boer War DSO group to Charles Guinand Blackader


Picture courtesy of DNW

Major-General Blackader CB DSO (1869-1921) was born Richmond, Surrey, son of Charles George Blackader, M.A. and Charlotte (nee Guinand); educated in France and at Aldin House School, Slough, by the Reverend Hastings; after passing out from R.M.C. Sandhurst, Blackader was commissioned Second Lieutenant, Leicestershire Regiment, 22.8.1888; served with the 1st Battalion in Bermuda, India, Nova Scotia, and Jamaica; Lieutenant 22.7.1890; served as Captain, attached 1st Battalion, West African Frontier Force, 27.11.1897-24.6.1899; served with the battalion in operations on the Niger, including the expedition to Lapia (M.I.D. London Gazette 23.5.1899)

He served with the 1st Battalion Leicestershire Regiment in South Africa, 1899-1902, including operations in Natal (1899), actions at Talana and Lombard's Kop, the Defence of Ladysmith, operations in Natal (March-June 1900), action at Laing's Nek (6th-9th June), operations in the Transvaal, east of Pretoria, including actions at Belfast (26th-27th August) and Lydenberg (5th-8th September); he also served as Commandant at Witbank and afterwards was Station Staff Officer (D.S.O.; M.I.D. London Gazette 8.2.1901 and 10.9.1901)

Adjutant of 1st Volunteer Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment, 1902-04; Major 10.9.1904; served with the 1st Battalion in India, Shorncliffe, and in Fermoy, Ireland; he won an Army Tennis cup with Captain Challenor, 1908; appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding Officer 2nd Battalion in India, September 1912; led the battalion to France in October 1914, and commanded them in action until December; promoted Brigadier-General, and commanded the Garhwal Brigade of the 7th (Meerut) Division of the Indian Corps, 8th January-30th November 1915; the Brigade comprised of 2nd Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, 3rd Battalion London Regiment (T.F.), 2/3rd Battalion Gurkhas, 1/39th and 2/39th Garhwalis; led the Brigade with distinction at the battles of Neuve Chapelle, March 1915 (for which he was Commended by his Corps Commander, General Willcocks, and two of his men were awarded the Victoria Cross), the night assault on Festubert (the first British night attack of the War), 15.5.1915, and at Loos, September 1915; served as A.D.C. to the King, 1.1.1916-31.12.1917; on the withdrawal of the Indian Corps from Europe, in 1916, he took command of 177th Brigade, Home Forces; and was serving in this capacity during the Easter Rising; following the Rising, many of those believed by the British authorities to be responsible were tried by military courts; ninety were sentenced to death, of whom fifteen were eventually executed; Blackader, as a senior officer, chaired a number of courts-martial, including those of Éamonn Ceannt, Thomas Clarke, Thomas MacDonagh, Patrick Pearse, and Joseph Plunkett, five of the seven signatories to the Proclamation of the Irish Republic; he served as GOC 38th (Welsh) Division in France & Flanders, 12.7.1916-8.6.1918 (M.I.D. London Gazette 17.2.1915, 7.8.1915, 1.1.1916, 4.1.1917 and 25.1.1917); advanced Major-General, 1.1.1918; he resigned his commission, June 1918, having been bitten by a rabid dog for which he received Pasteur's treatment; he returned to Ireland as Commander of Southern District, but his health deteriorated and he died at Millbank, London, 1921, aged 51. There is a memorial to him in Leicester Cathedral.

Blackader's East and West Africa Medal is unique to the Leicestershire Regiment.