The Bernard Harris Collection of Medals to the 3rd Regiment, South African Infantry

British War Medal 1914-20 (4) (Pte. A. J. Amoore. 3rd S.A.I.; Pte. R. Blom. 3rd S.A.I.; Pte. W. A. Cassell. 3rd S.A.I.; C.S.M. W. P. Cooper. 3rd S.A.I.) traces of adhesive to reverse of all, generally very fine (4) £80-£100

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Bernard Harris Collection of Medals to the 3rd Regiment, South African Infantry.

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Alex John Amoore was born in London on 26 June 1886, and attested for the 3rd South African Infantry at Potchefstroom on 21 August 1915. He received a gunshot wound to the left arm during the Battle of the Somme on 29 July 1916, and was later discharged at Wynberg on 12 January 1918; he likely returned to civilian employment as a bank clerk at the National Bank, Boksburg.

Rudolph Blom was born in Johannesburg around 1896, and attested for the 3rd South African Infantry at Potchefstroom on 17 September 1915. Posted to France from 15 April 1916, his papers note that he was wounded in action on 15 July 1916. An accompanying published extract (annotated by a former custodian ‘Delville Wood’) adds: ‘Pte. Rudolph Blom, 19, sheltered in a dug-out which was loaded with ammunition’. Evacuated to England per H.S. St. David, he was discharged permanently unfit for further war service at Wynberg in November 1917.

William Alfred Cassell was born in Cape Town around 1897, and attested for the 3rd South African Infantry at Potchefstroom on 18 August 1915. Posted to the Western Front, his papers record that he received shrapnel wounds to both legs on 20 July 1916, and a further gunshot wound to the right leg on 8 February 1917; the latter occasion resulted in the amputation of this limb above the knee at Richmond Hospital. He was later described as ‘doing well’ before being discharged in June 1918.

Walter Phillip Cooper was born in Cape Province in 1895, and attested for the 3rd South African Infantry at Potchefstroom on 21 October 1915. He fought in France from 19 August 1916 to 19 September 1916, his active service being halted by a gunshot wound to the right arm; evacuated to the King George Hospital in London, complications involving a fractured humerus effectively ended his campaign after just 1 month in the trenches.

Sold with copied service records for all four recipients.