Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (4879 Pte. E. Grimes, Wilts. Regt.), together with a 2nd Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment Football Prize Medal 1906-07, silver, the reverse inscribed to ‘No. 4879 Lce. Cpl. E. J. Grimes’, the first polished, nearly very fine, the last with test mark to edge but otherwise good very fine (2) £180-220

Ernest James “Dukie” Grimes was born in Chatham, Kent, in December 1882, and enlisted as a boy recruit in the Wiltshire Regiment in Guernsey in November 1897, having attended the Royal Military Asylum Chelsea, where he was a musician.

Posted to the 2nd Battalion in November 1900, he witnessed active service out in South Africa (Queen’s Medal & 5 clasps), and was appointed a Bandsman in March 1902 - but not before having been sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour for 112 days on being convicted of receiving stolen goods.

Noted in regimental records as a cornet and violin player, Grimes was advanced to Band Corporal in July 1907 and to Band Sergeant in November 1912, but, on account of such N.C.Os not being permitted to proceed overseas in the early stages of the War, he was transferred to the 3rd Battalion soon after the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914.

However, after volunteering to rejoin his old Battalion as a duty Sergeant, he was embarked for France in April 1915, where he was quickly advanced to Company Sergeant-Major. Present at Festubert, where he took command of a platoon, and at the battle of Loos that September, where, by his own account, he was rendered deaf for six hours by the noise of a battery of guns firing near him. He was also suffering from Myalgia and, in November 1915, was admitted to the 1st Canadian General Hospital at Etaples, and thence to the Reading War Hospital.

Having then been declared fit for home duties only, he rejoined the 3rd Battalion, from which he transferred to the Devonshire Regiment as C.S.M. in March 1916 and found his way back out to France in the 12th (Labour) Battalion that June. Advanced to R.Q.M.S. at the year’s end, he was subsequently recommended for a commission by his Battalion C.O. and, in April 1917, he was appointed a 2nd Lieutenant in the 21st Battalion, Manchester Regiment. But owing to ongoing deafness and other ailments, he was invalided home that June and saw no further active service.

Placed on the Retired List as an Honorary Captain in February 1920, he was, however, recalled to the Manchester Regimental Depot in April-June 1921, during the National Emergency. Grimes, who fought a long and bitter battle for compensation for his deafness, died at Bexhill-on-Sea in February 1967; sold with extensive copied research, including Medal & clasp roll verification.