Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Two: Private F. A. Snook, Wiltshire Regiment, who was killed in action on the Somme in September 1916

British War and Victory Medals (22801 Pte. F. A. Snook, Wilts. R.), together with related Memorial Plaque 1914-18 (Frederick Arthur Snook), in its card sleeve, and Exeter Record Office forwarding letter for the campaign medals, dated 7 June 1921, extremely fine (3) £140-160

Frederick Arthur Snook, who was born at Hilcott, Wiltshire, was a resident of Pewsey at the time of his enlistment in the Wiltshire Regiment. Posted to the 1st Battalion out to France in 1916, he was killed in action on the Somme on 3 September, when his unit was ordered to mount a dawn attack on enemy trenches in the Leipzig sector - as related in the Battalion’s war diary, a last minute shift in objectives left the advancing Wiltshires exposed to horrendous machine-gun fire on both flanks, as a result of which the attack was a costly failure. Snook has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.