Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Private W. F. Bond, Devonshire Regiment and Somerset Light Infantry, afterwards the famous English character actor ‘Walter Fitzgerald’

British War and Victory Medals (43522 Pte. W. F. Bond, Devon R.), in their card box of issue, extremely fine (2) £180-220

Walter Fitzgerald Bond was born at Keyham, Devon in May 1896 and, following active service in the Great War, in which he was awarded the Silver War Badge, commenced his stage career, touring in companies under Sir John Martin-Hervey and Sir Seymour Hicks after attending R.A.D.A.. From the early 1930s he started to appear in films, often being cast in uniformed or professional roles (doctors, lawyers, etc.), an early example being the 1932 film Murder at Covent Garden, while during the 1939-45 War, he appeared in several well-known titles, among them In Which We Serve (1942), Squadron Leader X (1943), and San Demetrio (1943). Later still, he gained wider fame for his parts in such films as Blanche Fury (1946), The Fallen Idol (1948) and Treasure Island (1950), the advent of the 1950s also witnessing the commencement of his television career. However, main stream film work continued to take up much of his time, Pickwick Papers and Appointment in London (1952), Cockleshell Heroes (1955) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), being among his more famous titles, while one of his final film appearances was opposite Alec Guinness in H.M.S. Defiant in 1961. Bond died in London in December 1976, aged 80 years.