Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An inspirational Great War Casualty pair awarded to Tank Commander Lieutenant W. G. T. Pemberton, Royal West Surrey Regiment, attached 1st Tank Battalion, Tank Corps, who was blinded in both eyes on the opening day of the Battle of Amiens on 8 August 1918, when over 500 Allied tanks finally demonstrated that superior tactics, equipment and greater material strength could 'win' the war - despite his complete loss of sight Pemberton resumed his civilian business career with extraordinary success

British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. W. G. T. Pemberton.); together with the recipient’s braille pocket watch, 50mm, base metal, marked to dial ‘Presented by the National Association of Goldsmiths, 1918.’, as gifted by Sir Arthur Pearson, the medals nearly extremely fine, the watch no longer in obvious working condition (2) £500-£700

Warwick Geoffrey Travers Pemberton was born in Whitley, Warwickshire, on 3 May 1885. Educated at Christ’s Hospital, he took pre-war employment as a chartered accountant with Rowley Pemberton & Co., and was married at Kensington on 21 March 1912. The young couple soon set up home at the prestigious address of 67, Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, becoming parents to a little girl not long thereafter.

The outbreak of the Great War witnessed Pemberton leaving civilian employment and attesting on the Euston Road for the 28th Battalion, London Regiment (The Artist’s Rifles). Initially appointed Private, he was sent to Richmond Park for training before transfer to the Inns of Court O.T.C. and appointment to a commission with the 3/5th Battalion, The Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment on 28 September 1915. Raised Lieutenant, Pemberton’s Officer Service Record notes secondment to duty with the Tank Corps on 27 August 1917, a month to the day after the Corps had formed from the Heavy Branch of the Machine Gun Corps and just as the new Mark IV tanks were beginning to experience excessive monthly rainfall at Passchendaele:

‘Sadly, the tanks deployment in the Third Battle of Ypres (July-November 1917) proved to be another slog through deep mud. The area became a tank graveyard as machine after machine ditched in deep trenches and shell holes, sank, stuck and was shelled. Morale in the Tank Corps was low and confidence in the rest of the Army destroyed.’

In consequence, it fell to a new cohort of Second Lieutenants and Lieutenants to lead - men such as Pemberton - and it wasn’t long before a fresh generation of tank crews began to show their mettle; on 20 November 1917 the British Third Army launched a tactically radical attack at Cambrai where chalk ground conditions were far more favourable than any of the clay footings seen to date. Following a surprise hurricane artillery bombardment, 374 mark IV tanks smashed through the Hindenburg Line positions and created the longed for 'rupture' in the German lines offering a glimmer of hope for a breakthrough. In this instance insufficient mobile reserves managed to exploit the gap, but Cambrai proved to be a key learning experience for the tank crews and British High Command. Further successes followed for the Tank Corps in an extraordinary counter-attack at Villers-Bretonneux on 24-25 April 1918 (where they faced for the first time the few German tanks ever produced, plus a number of captured British tanks), and again at Le Hamel on 4 July 1918.

On 8 August 1918, the British commenced the opening phase of the Allied offensive which ultimately led to the end of the First World War. The Battle of Amiens began in dense fog at 4.20 a.m. when the British III Corps attacked north of the Somme. Taken by surprise, author A. Kearsley notes in Amiens, 1918 that a number of enemy officers and divisional staff were ‘captured whilst eating breakfast’. However, for the British, not everything went to plan, largely in consequence of terrain and having just a single tank battalion in support; gaining their first objectives, they were soon held up short of the Chipilly Spur. It was at around this time that Pemberton was wounded in the face.

Based upon the recipient’s medical records, Pemberton was wounded either by bullet fragments ‘pinging’ off the virtually impenetrable plate armour when reconnoitring outside his tank, or by ‘spall’ created when a machine gun bullet or rifle round strikes a tank at close range and peppers the men within. According to Armour Plate by author Hugh Chisholm, this type of injury was becoming increasingly common due to the German adoption of blunt-nosed ‘reversed’ bullets which transferred their kinetic power to the steel plate upon impact, rather than attempting to penetrate the target. They also resulted in the adoption, from late 1917 onwards, of steel and leather splinter masks by tank crews, designed to protect the eyes and face.

Evacuated from Boulogne to Dover on 4 September 1918, Pemberton was sent to the 2nd London General Hospital at St. Mark’s College, Chelsea, and thence to St. Dunstan’s on 14 January 1919. Noted as present at their Regent’s Park accommodation on 1 April 1919, Pemberton relinquished his commission in consequence of ill health caused by wounds on 14 May 1919 and set about ‘getting on’ with a new life - one Pemberton believed he would need to ‘re-build’, until he was interviewed (as all new entrants were) by Sir Arthur Pearson, the founder and inspiration behind St. Dunstan’s. In common with all men at this first meeting, Pemberton was presented with a braille pocket watch; a generous gift, and also a ‘first step’ and confidence booster in being able to tell the time by one’s self.

Lord Fraser, a former Chairman of St. Dunstan’s explains:
‘I well remember talking over his future with Sir Arthur Pearson. This was one of those cases where Sir Arthur showed his imagination and determination and thereby set a pattern which we have followed ever since. Sir Arthur said to Geoffrey Pemberton: Why not go back to your profession?’

In Pemberton's own words:
'When I went to St. Dunstan's it never occurred to me that I might go back to my old business as a chartered accountant. But with you I saw that many had taken up their former work with extraordinary success. Encouraged by this and your optimism I determined to try myself. I have been back at work for six months, but though that is a very short time, I think that there is no doubt that all is well... All my old clients say they are absolutely satisfied; they are business men and I don't think overly sentimental.' 

By devoting himself to those aspects of the work of the accountancy office, such as interviewing clients, getting business, discussing principles and reconstructions, taxation problems and so on, leaving the pure accountancy work to others, Pemberton succeeded in a full partnership and played a leading part at his employers. His knowledge was facilitated by a great interest in the Talking Book, together with a brief spell in local politics. In 1927, whilst at a function at St Dunstan's, he also caught the attention of the Prince of Wales - the future Edward VIII - who showed a 'keen interest in his war service and professional life', almost certainly a reflection of how unusual and uncommon Pemberton's post-War pathway had been.

Sold with a copied image of the recipient.