Medal collection assembled by late WW2 serviceman sells for £50,000

A medal collection assembled by a late Second World War serviceman has sold for£50,000

The 145-lot collection belonged to Edward Ernest Butler, known as Ted.

The collection primarily related to the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI) and Cheshire and Gurkha Regiments, including several Distinguished Conduct gallantry medal groups.

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The collection’s top seller was a Great War Distinguished Conduct Medal, DCM, group awarded to Colour-Sergeant Major Frederick Meachin, Cheshire Regiment, who was helped to escape from Belgium by British nurse Edith Cavell.

It’s not clear to what action the DCM citation refers, but it’s thought it be the assault on Vimy Ridge in April 1917 in which the 1st Cheshires were involved with Canadian troops.

It beat its pre-sale estimate of £1,500 to sell for £6,500, as reported by What’s The Jam.

A Great War Military Medal group awarded to early prisoner of war Temporary Company Quartermaster-Sergeant William George Barrow, of the Cheshire Regiment, sold for £3,000.

Barrow was wounded and captured in 1914 and released to neutral Holland in February 1918.

A Military General Service Medal 1783–1814 with six clasps, awarded to Sergeant William Shackleton, 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot, sold for £2,200.

Another notable lot was a Great War ‘Conspicuous Gallantry’, Distinguished Conduct and Military Medal trio awarded to Lance Sergeant John Purcell, 1st Battalion KSLI, which sold for £1,400.

Born in 1894, Purcell served with the 1st KSLI and Royal Army Medical Corps. His DCM citation relates to an attack near Fayet in France on September 24, 1918, where he took command after the death of the platoon commander and led bombing parties to storm enemy posts and suffered a head wound from machine gun and sniper fire.

A Great War Distinguished Conduct Medal group presented to Sergeant T. H. Hulse, 115th Railway Company Royal Engineers, sold for £1,050. Sgt Hulse, from Crewe, was recognised for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty whilst constructing a railway “under the most trying conditions”.

Other leading prices in the auction included £2,300 for a Second World War Distinguished Flying Medal group awarded to Squadron Leader Charles Gordon Saunders, 6 Squadron, RAF.

He flew reconnaissance and co-operation operations across Palestine and the Western Desert, was captured near Tobruk in April 1941 and was later a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft III.

A collection of 15 German Third Reich lots, including daggers and other items, which belonged to a late Shropshire collector, sold for nearly £4,000

A scarce Great War officer’s uniform grouping which belonged to Second Lieutenant Arthur Charles Sewell Simon (1890-1968) of the 1/5th North Staffordshire Regiment, sold for £2,500, while a Hong Kong Plague 1894 Medal awarded to Lance Sergeant Edward Chetta of King’s Shropshire Light Infantry sold for £1,650.

One of the more unusual lots in the auction was a telescope gifted by Admiral Lord Nelson to Lieutenant Edward Gascoigne Palmer (1789-1860), of the Royal Navy, which sold for £1,800.

Born in Sandbach, Cheshire in 1926, Ted worked for the Westminster Bank in Winsford and joined the Royal Navy in 1944, training as a coder and serving in the Far East, part of the time alongside the14h Army and Gurkha units.

His service took him to Malaya, Singapore and Siam, and he witnessed Japanese soldiers surrender in both countries.

“During these years and having lived in such gruelling times, he developed a great interest in militaria and history,” said Ted’s family.

“On returning to his banking career, now in Alsager, these interests developed.”

He bought his first medal in the late 1940s and spent many hours writing letters, researching and reading around the subject.

He focused on the medals purchased, the soldiers they belonged to and the conflicts in which they were engaged.

Ted, who died in 2004, purchased his medals from leading auctions and individual collectors and felt great affiliation and affection towards the Gurkhas, with whom he served.

Expert Caroline Dennard, of auctioneer Halls Fine Art in Shrewsbury, Shrops, said: “We are delighted that Ted’s fantastic collection of medals attracted so much interest from buyers both in the UK and overseas.

“We had a 95% sale rate and lots throughout the auction outperformed our initial expectations, which is great for the vendors and for Halls Fine Art.”

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