Three: Private J. Gourley, Hampshire Regiment, late Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, who was killed in action at Gallipoli on 6 August 1915

1914-15 Star (9660 Pte. J. Gourley. Oxf. & Bucks. L.I.); British War and Victory Medals (9660 Pte. J. Gourley. Oxf. & Bucks. L.I.); Memorial Plaque (James Gourley) good very fine (4) £140-£180

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals for the Gallipoli Campaign.

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James Gourley was born at Turnstall, Staffordshire, in 1865, and prior to the Great War resided in East Southsea, Hampshire. He initially enlisted at Oxford for the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, witnessing active service in France from 29 November 1914. Transferred to the 2nd Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, he was posted to Gallipoli and was killed in action fighting Turkish forces on 6 August 1915. Designed as a diversionary attack intended to draw enemy attention away from the Suvla landings further north, the mid-afternoon assault by the Hampshire Regiment resulted in over 220 men killed from the original 873 who went ‘over the top’ - epitomising the futility of daylight assaults against a well entrenched enemy. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Turkey.