Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria to include a Fine Collection of Napoleonic Medals

Pair: Lieutenant T. E. Lawson-Smith, 13th, attached 11th Hussars, killed in action, Messines, 30 October 1914

British War and Victory Medals (Lieut.) mounted for display with ‘1914 Star’ ribbon and copy clasp, contact marks, nearly very fine (2) £100-140

Thomas Edward Lawson-Smith was born on 14 March 1889 and was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst. At the outbreak of the Great War he was in England on sick leave from his regiment, the 13th Hussars, who were stationed in India at the time. Volunteering for service was posted from the 12th Reserve Cavalry and was attached to the 11th Hussars. He joined the regiment on 17 October along with a draft of 90 N.C.O’s. and men. Lieutenant Lawson-Smith was killed in action at Messines on 30 October 1914 - he was working in a trench when an enemy shell burst nearby and buried him and six others under a mass of earth. Having no known grave, his name is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial. His younger brother, John, with the 1st Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, was killed on 20 October 1914. Thomas Edward was the elder son of Mr E. M. Lawson-Smith, of Cotton Lodge, Tadcaster, West Yorkshire. He was probably the first 13th Hussars officer to be killed in the war. With copied research including photograph, obituary and m.i.c. - the latter confirms the 1914 Star and clasp.