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Auction: 24111 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 491

Three: Private J. Wilson, 25th (Frontiersmen) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, a.k.a. 'Driscoll's Tigers', who served with his unit in East Africa during the Great War, later Royal Defence Corps

1914-15 Star (13564 Pte. J. Wilson. R. Fus:); British War and Victory Medals (13564 Pte. J. Wilson. R. Fus.), good very fine (3)

John Wilson was born in 1878 and was a Commission Agent by trade. During the Great War served in East Africa with the 25th (Frontiersmen) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers from 4 May 1915, one of 'The Originals' of the unit. The Battalion was commanded by Colonel D. P. Driscoll, D.S.O. - hence its informal title 'Driscoll's Tigers' - and by normal standards it was an exceptional unit. Driscoll deliberately enlisted specialists, among them the famous explorer and hunter, 64-year-old F. C. Selous, in addition to other well-known African hunters such as Martin Ryan, George Outram and Jock Richardson. He would have shared in all of the major actions fought by 'Driscoll's Tigers' in East Africa, from their opening engagement at Bokoba on the shores of Lake Victoria on 20 June 1915 to the action at Beho-Beho in January 1917; the famous explorer and hunter Selous was mortally wounded on the same occasion.

Wilson himself was invalided home from Africa in September 1917, the result of a hernia caused by starting a motor engine, combined with rheumatism and malaria. He finished the Great War with the Royal Defence Corps.

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Starting price
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