Somme VC to go under the hammer

The star in Dix Noonan Webb's March 1st auction is this First Day of the Somme VC and German Spring Offensive MC group to Captain George Sanders who served with the 1/7th and 1/6th Battalions of the West Yorkshire Regiment. This from DNW's catalogue:

The exceptional Great War ‘First Day of The Somme’ V.C., ‘German Spring Offensive’ M.C. group of six awarded to Captain George Sanders, who was awarded his Victoria Cross whilst serving as a Corporal in the 1/7th (Leeds Rifles) Territorial Battalion, for gallantry near Thiepval on 1 July 1916, when, following an advance into the enemy’s trenches, he found himself isolated with a party of thirty men - Impressing upon them that it was ‘his and their duty to hold the position at all costs’ they fought a series of desperate actions over a period of 36 hours, all without food and water, the gallant Sanders eventually returning to British lines with nineteen of his comrades. 

Subsequently commissioned from the ranks and posted to the 1/6th Battalion, Sanders again found himself in a fight against overwhelming odds on 25 April 1918 at the Battle of Kemmel Hill, following which action he was posted as missing - Witnesses stated that he was last seen standing on top of a pill-box rallying his men, shot in the right arm and leg, but continuing to fire his revolver at the enemy at point blank range with his left hand - This, however, was not the last to be heard from the heroic Sanders, as the following July a letter was received from him, sent from Limburg Prisoner of War Camp and two months later the London Gazette carried the announcement of the award of his Military Cross.

The group has an estimate of £180,000 to £220,000.

For more on this lot, and all lots in the 1st March 2017 sale, browse the Dix Noonan Webb catalogue online.

Tubby Clayton and two Great War VCs

I bought this old press photo from 1926 recently. The caption on the reverse reads:

YPRES DAY MEMORIAL SERVICE.
Our photograph shows the Rev. P.B. Clayton ("Tubby" of Toc H) leading the singing of Kipling's Recessional during the service in Horse Guards Parade, after which there was a procession to the Cenotaph. On the left are two VCs. Lt-Col Sherwood Kelly and Sergt Brooks.

John (Jack) Sherwood Kelly VC, CMG, DSO won his Victoria Cross on the 20th November 1917 at the Battle of Cambrai. Oliver (Olly) Brooks of the Coldstream Guards won his VC near Loos on the 8th October 1915.

VC group knocked down for £260,000

I see Dix Noonan Webb have today sold Lieutenant-Colonel T C Watson's VC group of six (below) for £260,000. So much for the £180,000 (itself higher than DNW's pre-auction estimate) which was quoted in a number of papers last week.

Also sold today for £110,00 was the 2009 Conspicuous Gallantry Cross group of eight awarded to Colour Sergeant A G Dennis (above).

£770,000 for Ted Kenna VC

A VC group of ten to Australian Ted Kenna, has been sold at auction in Melbourne for a world record £770,000. Private Kenna earned the medal when he single-handedly charged a machine-gun post in New Guinea on 15th May 1945. He died in 2009.

Photo courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald.

Major John Simpson Knox VC

Deep pockets will be the order of the day next April. On the 22nd of the month, Spink Auction House will be offering for sale the first ever VC awarded to a soldier of the British Army.

Major John Simpson Knox was a sergeant with the Scots Fusilier Guards during the Crimean War and was present with his regiment in all of the Crimean engagements. His Crimea Medal, sold as part of the group, bears the clasps Alma, Balaclava, Inkermann and Sebastopol. The other two medals in the group are (from left to right, above), the French Legion of Honour and the Turkish Crimean Medal.


It was principally for his gallantry and leadership at the Alma on 20th September 1854 that Sergeant John Knox (pictured above, wearing his medals) was recommended for the Victoria Cross. The entry in The London Gazette of 24th February 1857 reads:

River Alma, Crimea, 20 September 1854, Sergeant John Knox, Scots ( Fusilier ) Guards.

When serving as a Serjeant in the Scots Fusilier Guards. Lieutenant Knox was conspicuous for his exertions in reforming the ranks of the Guards at the Battle of the Alma. Subsequently, when in the Rifle Brigade, he volunteered for the ladder party in the attack on the Redan, on the 18th of June, and ( in the words of Captain Blackett, under whose command he was ) behaved admirably, remaining on the field until twice wounded.


The medals are to be sold with the cannonball (above) which took off Knox's left arm at Sebastopol. He was invested with his Victoria Cross by Queen Victoria at Hyde Park on the 26th June 1857.


John Knox's entry for the Crimea Medal with Alma and Inkerman clasps, above. The group is expected to sell for upwards of £120,000.

Acknowledgements:

The Daily Telegraph for the medal group; Spink for the cannonball, The National Archives for the medal roll entry,

Further Information:

John Simpson Knox VC
Lord Ashcroft's VC collection
Victoria Crosses at Dix Noonan Webb
Spink