A Great War M.S.M. awarded to Private W. Jackson, Royal Army Medical Corps, for Gallantry on the occasion of the mining of the troopship Tyndareus, 6 February 1917

Army Meritorious Service Medal, G.V.R., 1st issue (36719 Pte. W. Jackson, R.A.M.C.) contact marks, nearly very fine £300-350

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Awards to the Medical Services from the Collection of the late Tony Sabell.

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M.S.M. London Gazette 17 September 1917. ‘... for gallantry in the performance of military duty.’

M.I.D. London Gazette 11 January 1918.

Private William Jackson, R.A.M.C., from Hebden Bridge, entered a theatre of war on board a hospital ship on 2 October 1914 (awarded the 1914 Star trio). Serving on the hospital ship Oxfordshire, he was mentioned in the despatches of Major-General A. R. Hoskins, C.M.G., D.S.O., C-in-C. East African Forces, for his gallantry on the occasion of the mining of the troopship Tyndareus, 6 February 1917. He was subsequently awarded the M.S.M. for Gallantry for his services.

As part of a convoy, the Tyndareus was carrying men of the 25th Battalion Middlesex Regiment. Nearing Table Bay, South Africa, she struck a mine and began to go down by the head. In a scene reminiscent of the sinking of the Birkenhead, which had sunk not too far away, the men of the Middlesex Regiment calmly responded to the orders of their officers and quietly paraded in an orderly fashion awaiting either death or rescue. The ship remained afloat and rescue came in the form of the hospital ships Oxfordshire and Eumaeus. Boats were lowered and despite the rough sea and strong winds, all the troops were safely transferred. The Tyndareus did not sink and two days later it managed to limp into Simon’s Bay.

King George V sent a message to the 25th Battalion Middlesex expressing his admiration of their discipline and courage in the splendid tradition of the ‘Birkenhead’. Private Jackson was one of four men of the Oxfordshire to be awarded the M.S.M. for Gallantry. With copied research.