A Great War ‘Western Front’ M.M. pair awarded to Sergeant J. Hurley, East Lancashire Regiment, who was later brutally set upon and murdered by a notorious thug and member of the ‘Blackshirts’ in his home town of Accrington

Military Medal, G.V.R. (240065 Sjt: J. Hurley. 1/5 E. Lanc: R.-T.F.); British War Medal 1914-20 (240065 Sjt. J. Hurley. E. Lan. R.) nearly very fine (2) £200-£240

M.M. London Gazette 4 February 1918.

Joseph Hurley was born at Church, near Accrington, in 1894. He attested for the 1/5th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, on 18 January 1912, and served overseas in Egypt, Gallipoli, Sinai and the Western Front. In the absence of a surviving citation, a clue as to the circumstances leading up to the award of the M.M. lies in the Divisional History; from November 1917 to January 1918, his Battalion was stationed in the La Bassee Sector and were involved in repeated trench raids on the German lines near Givenchy.

Returned home to Cobden Street, Accrington, at the cessation of hostilities, Hurley took employment as a steeplejack and labourer through much of the 1920s and early ‘30s. Settling into relative obscurity, everything changed on one fateful night in late December 1934, when he was set upon and killed by another local man, William Hodson. A known troublemaker and nicknamed ‘Bronco Bill’ on account of the style of hat which he habitually wore, Hodson took affront at Hurley and his apparent disdain for the ‘Blackshirt’ organisation and set upon him with extreme violence.

A detailed piece published in the Accrington Observer & Times on 12 February 1935, adds:
‘Flying Kicks.
The man [Hodson] got up and appeared to walk two strides away, and then turned round and took two flying kicks at the man on the ground, one connecting with the left side of the face and the other with his chest. He then went to the other side - the right side - and kicked him there. He returned to the left side, and was shouting something when a lady came forward. She appeared to try and stop prisoner, but she was pushed away. Hodson then stood at one side. He appeared to be challenging the crowd...’

The accused then seized Hurley round the waist, lifted him off his feet and threw him to the ground. Unconscious on the floor, Hurley had no opportunity to defend himself. Admitted to Hospital just after midnight on 22 December 1935, Hurley died soon thereafter as a result of a fractured skull and beating to the entirety of the body. William Hodson was later convicted of murder at the Manchester Assizes. Sentenced to death on 6 March 1935, he was later shown clemency upon rendering assistance to the prison staff during a riot at Dartmoor Prison, and paroled in the mid-1940s.

Sold with extensive research.