The Great War “pigeoneer’s” M.M. group of four awarded to Acting Corporal J. Hilton, a member of the Royal Engineers’ Carrier Pigeon Service

Military Medal, G.V.R. (115598 Pr. J. Hilton, C.P. Serv. R.E.); 1914-15 Star (115598 Pnr. J. Hilton, R.E.); British War and Victory Medals (115598 A. Cpl. J. Hilton, R.E.), one or two edge bruises, very fine and better (4) £700-900

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Ron Penhall Collection.

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M.M. London Gazette 16 August 1917.

John Hilton first entered the French theatre of war in late August 1915, shortly after responsibility for the military employment of carrier pigeons had been passed to the Signal Service of the Royal Engineers from the Intelligence Corps, so we may be sure that he was an early member of the “Carrier Pigeon Service”, a unit that by the War’s end boasted a strength of some 400 “pigeoneers”. Equally, too, we may be sure that his M.M. was one of but a handful of decorations won by members of the unit - and most probably for services under fire in, or near the the frontline, possibly on attachment to a Royal Artillery O.P. An excellent summary of the unit’s history is to be found in Alan Harfield’s Pigeon to Packhorse, from which the following extract has been taken:

‘Pigeon messages went straight from Battalion Headquarters, or from pigeon posts in the trenches, to Division or Corps Headquarters. As the majority of messages were intended for the Brigade to which the battalion belonged, some delay was inevitable but it was reduced to a minimum by co-locating the lofts to the nearest signal office of the formation which the bird served. Pigeon messages were treated as Priority and were given preference over all ‘less important telephone traffic’. Records show that the message from the trenches could be relied upon to reach the Brigade Headquarters in 10, 15 or 20 minutes according to the distance that the pigeon had to fly. The men in the trenches appreciated the use of pigeons as prior to their introduction quite a number of soldiers had been killed whilst acting as messengers. It was difficult at first to ensure that the soldiers did not over feed the birds and make pets of the carrier pigeons, but this problem was gradually overcome.

As the service increased and more men were trained as ‘pigeoneers’ (this was prior to the introduction of the trade of Loftsman) a great degree of efficiency was attained, and having trained handlers ensured that the pigeons were properly handled and fed and protected against the rats which infested the trenches.

The new organisation gave a pigeon station at each Brigade sector of the front and at each station was a basket containing four pigeons in the charge of a specially trained soldier. In June 1915 the Carrier Pigeon Service was reorgansied and an establishment of ten pigeon stations with each army was authorised and a similar number for the Cavalry Corps. In order to cater for this new requirement the enlistment of 60 pigeon ‘specialists’ was authorised and the service was transferred to the R.E. Signal Service. The plan of the First Army Pigeon Service for December 1915 shows that 15 pigeon stations had been established with 8 reserve ‘baskets’ giving a total of 202 birds.

As the war progressed it became necessary to increase the service even further and the lessons learned during the Somme offensive showed that there was a need for a mobile ‘loft’ which could be moved from location to location as the need arose. The proposal for the mobile service called for 6 motor and 60 horse drawn lofts, with the motorised loft holding 50 and the horse drawn loft 75 birds, so that the new mobile service would give an additional 4,800 pigeons to the Signal Service. The mobile loft proved to be a success as by 1917 it was reported that the service was extremely efficient with several hundred messages being passed by the pigeon service during every battle. The establishment was again increased during July 1917 when the horse drawn lofts were increased to 120 and 6 motor mobile lofts and the use of pigeons had been extended so that they were also used by artillery officers on forward observation duties and by tank crews.

The Pigeon Service at this time had, according to the history of the Royal Engineer Signal Service, far outstripped the forward wireless service in its practical utility but in later actions in the war, and in particular during retreat, it was found that the mobile lofts were not as ‘mobile’ as had been hoped. Horses were difficult to find at short notice and with the roads completely congested during one retreat 40 horse drawn and motor mobile lofts were lost to the enemy. Most of these had been destroyed by fire and the birds were dispersed so that no mobile loft was captured complete with its birds.

The Carrier Pigeon Service continued throughout the war and at the conclusion of the conflict there were 22,000 pigeons in the service, with 150 mobile lofts and 400 pigeoneers.’

Sold with four original Great War period photographs of “pigeoneers” and mobile lofts.