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Auction: 25112 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 443

(x) Pair: Private R. Elliot, 6/7th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers, who was killed in action on 23 April 1917

British War and Victory Medals (34078 Pte. R. Elliot. R. S. Fus.), very fine (2)

Robert Elliot served with the 6/7th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers from 1916 on the Western Front. His time with the unit coincided with when Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel Winston Churchill took charge of the 6th Battalion on 5 January 1916.

Churchill's command of the Battalion was generally viewed as successful, assuming his charge following the battalion's significant losses at the Battle of Loos between September-October 1915 with the aim to strengthen them once again. To fulfil this, Churchill brought with him 25 year old Scottish aristocrat and cavalryman Major Archie Sinclair, who like Churchill, also entered politics and after the war became leader of the Liberal Party from 1935-45. Churchill was disappointed with his appointment to Battalion command; he instead desired to become a general of a brigade, a move blocked by Prime Minister Asquith, for fears of Churchill's rumoured reputation of being a spy for the cabinet in London as well as his disastrous Gallipoli Campaign in 1915.

Churchill was initially given a cold reception from the officers who hadn't forgiven his defection to the Liberal Party in 1904. Lieutenant Edmund Hakewill Smith reported Churchill's initial meeting with the battalion's officers - Churchill invited them to lunch where he gave them a notable welcome: "Gentlemen, I am now your Commanding Officer. Those who support me I will look after. Those who are against me I will break. Good afternoon gentlemen". Arguably, Churchill was more popular amongst the men of the unit because he ensured they received the best available equipment and food. The battalion was one of the first to receive steel helmets and he even manage to arrange for the football team to get new strips.

On 24 January 1916, the Battalion marched towards the Front in stages. On the night of 26 January, the battalion took over a thousand yards of front line trenches in Ploegsteert, Belgium. Here Churchill briefed his officers: "War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can't smile, grin. If you can't grin, keep out of the way till you can". For the remainder of Churchill's time with the 6th R.S.F., the battalion followed a rotation of six days on the front line, six days in the support line, six days on the front line and then six days rest in reserve. At the end of his 125 day tenure, the battalion lost 15 men and had 123 wounded. When Churchill left the battalion, he returned to politics and the 6th and 7th battalions amalgamated on 7 May 1916 and became the 6/7th Royal Scots Fusiliers.

Elliot fought with this new Battalion for the remainder of his war. On 23 April 1917 he was killed in action while the battalion was serving in the Battle of Arras. Their division, the 59th (2nd North Midland) Division was involved in pursuing the German retreat on the Hindenburg Line. He is commemorated upon the Arras Memorial.

Subject to 5% tax on Hammer Price in addition to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium.

Sold for
£55

Starting price
£20