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Auction: 7012 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 799

A Rare 1916 ´Sheikh Saad, Iraq´ Killed in Action Group of Three to Lieutenant C.R. Prendergast, 28th Punjab Regiment 1914-15 Star (Lieut. C.R. Prendergast, 28/Punjabis.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. C.R. Prendergast.), nearly extremely fine, with Great War Bronze Memorial Plaque ´Charles Randolph Prendergast´, with enclosure slip (3) Estimate £ 350-400 Lieutenant Charles Randolph Prendergast, born 1888, son of Major-General C.L. Prendergast; educated at Cheltenham College and R.M.C. Sandhurst; commissioned Second Lieutenant Royal Munster Fusiliers, May 1910; transferred Indian Army, March 1914, and was attached as Lieutenant 28th Punjabis, ´In October 1914, British and Indian troops occupied the port of Basra in order to protect oil installations of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. An advance was then made up the river Tigris taking Kut-al-Amara and there appeared every possibility that if continued, Baghdad might also fall. A defeat was sustained in November of 1915 at the Turkish defence line of Ctesiphon and the British force had to be withdrawn, having reached the limits of its supplies and endurance. Pursued by Turkish forces, General Townsend was cut off and surrounded at Kut. Several attempts were made to raise the siege, the first of which involved Charles Prendergast, then serving with the 84th Punjab Regt., at the battle of Shiekh Saad, where, due to insufficient forces being available, a defeat ensued resulting in 6,000 casualties. Lieutenant Prendergast was killed in the battle and having no known grave is commemorated on the Basra Memorial. His name also appears in the chapel of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst´ (Article included in lot refers).

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