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Auction: 25111 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 472

The campaign group of four awarded to Captain E. H. Davies, 9th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers who was 'Mentioned' for his service at Gallipoli later becoming a Prisoner of War at Mouquet Farm, France in September 1916

Joining the Ceylon Civil Service after the war he became Under Secretary for Defence and survived the sinking of his ship when it was torpedoed and sunk off South West Africa

1914-15 Star (Lieut. E.H. Davies. Lan. Fus.); British War and Victory Medals with M.I.D. oak leaves (Capt. E.H. Davies); Coronation 1937, unnamed as issued, very fine (4)

M.I.D. London Gazette 6 March 1916.

Edward Harold Davies was born on 27 July 1895 at Tondu, Bridgend. He was commissioned in the 9th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers on 30 August 1914 and took part in the landing and evacuation at Gallipoli for which he was Mentioned in Despatches. In July 1916, the Battalion moved to France, landing at Marseilles and the Division engaged in various actions on the Western Front including the capture of the Wundt-Werk (Wonder Work) in 1916, plus the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. Davies was captured at Mouquet Farm on 26 September 1916 and spent the next two years in a German prisoner of war camp.

The war over Davies graduated from the University of Wales and sat for the I.C.S. exams in 1920. Appointed to the Ceylon Civil Service he served in various judicial and administrative roles; his final appointment was Under Secretary for Defence based at Colombo.

Torpedoed off South West Africa

Returning from extended leave in England on 28 November 1942 Davies was on a transport vessel heading for Ceylon when the convoy was dispersed in the north Atlantic by a gale of unprecedented violence and duration. The ship managed to reach Halifax for repairs and re fitting. Continuing with his journey his ship had the misfortune of being torpedoed off South West Africa and the ship abandoned on 2 April 1943. He was picked up by a naval vessel and taken to Cape Town, South Africa where he continued on his journey eventually arriving at Colombo on 5 May 1943.

Davies died in September 1962; sold together with a comprehensive archive of copied research including a two-page newspaper article about his 1942 journey from England to Ceylon in which his ship was torpedoed and sunk and a quantity of original photographs, some of which are annotated on the reverse.

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Sold for
£290

Starting price
£180