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Auction: 25113 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 400

A poignant Great War pair awarded to Lieutenant T. E. 'Tommy' Lawson-Smith, 13th Hussars, a 'keen, cheery and absolutely fearless' officer who was killed in action at Messines on 1 November 1914, whilst on attachment to the 11th Hussars; this just 10 days after his younger brother suffered a similar fate

British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. T. E. Lawson-Smith), mounted for display with a copy 1914 Star clasp, polished and lacquered, nearly very fine (2)

Thomas Edward Lawson-Smith was born on 14 March 1889, the son of E. M. Lawson-Smith, J.P., of Cotton Lodge, Tadcaster, Yorkshire and was educated at Harrow, where he played for the Cricket XI and scored 79 runs not out in the match against Eton at Lords in 1908.

Having then attended the R.M.C. Sandhurst, he was commissioned in the 13th Hussars in September 1909, and when hostilities broke out in August 1914 he was travelling home on sick leave from India.

Undoubtedly keen to see action, he managed to obtain an appointment in the 11th Hussars, in which capacity he was embarked for France with a draft of 90 N.C.O.s and men arriving in France on 12 October 1914. Tragically, less than a fortnight later - on 1 November - he was killed in action at Messines, when a heavy calibre enemy shell burst near his trench and buried him and six men under 'a mass of earth'.

Lawson-Smith was the subject of glowing tributes from brother officers, including the Colonel of the 11th Hussars, who stated that 'he knew no fear, wherever he went his men followed him', and the Colonel of the 13th Hussars who said, 'he was just the kind of officer that we badly need.'

He is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial and on the Amble War Memorial in Northumberland. Tragically for his parents, his younger brother, John, a subaltern in the West Yorkshire Regiment, had been killed in action on 20 October 1914.

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Estimate

Starting price
£100