Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War D.S.O. and Bar group of three awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel R. Bickerdike, the gallant C.O. of the 87th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, who was twice wounded in action
Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., with Second Award Bar, silver-gilt and enamel; British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Lt. Col. R. Bickerdike), the second with officially re-impressed naming, generally good very fine (3) £1800-2200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the Canadian Expeditonary Force 1914-1918.

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D.S.O. London Gazette 1 January 1918.

Bar to D.S.O. London Gazette 29 July 1919:

‘For great gallantry and devotion to duty at Bourlon, Blecourt, Cambrai Sector, from 27 September to 1 October 1918. During the night attack made by the Battalion east of Bourlon Wood on 27 September, he went forward and under heavy fire he gallantry organized the line and held the objective until relieved by troops passing through. On 30 September, when the troops were driven back, he re-organized the line out of elements of several battalions, and held the front line against counter-attacks until his battalion was withdrawn for re-organization in the evening. On the morning of 1 October, he took signallers and scouts forward and established a report centre at the farthest point reached by our advanced troops. The skill and daring displayed by him throughout the whole operation were admirable.’

Robert Bickerdike, who was born in Montreal in September 1869, served in the Canadian Militia prior to the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, shortly after which he was commissioned in the 58th Regiment (Westmount Rifles).

By early 1916, however, he was serving as C.O. of the 87th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, which unit he took to France in August of the same year, where he was severely wounded by a gunshot in his right shoulder on the Somme on 21 October, and invalided to the U.K. Returning to his old command in France in the rank of Major in February 1917, he won his first D.S.O. and was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 28 December 1917 refers), but was again wounded during his exploits in the Cambrai Sector in October 1918, gallant work that resulted in the award of his second D.S.O. and another “mention” (London Gazette 8 July 1919 refers).

Bickerdike was finally discharged as a Lieutenant-Colonel in June 1919, and died in November 1958; sold with copied service record.