Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Second Lieutenant D. H. Donaldson, 7th Battalion London Regiment, killed in action in the Battle of Loos, 25 September 1915, two days after receiving his commission

1914-15 Star (2150 L. Cpl D. H. Donaldson. 7/Lond. R.); British War and Victory Medals (2.Lieut. D. H. Donaldson.); Memorial Plaque (Denis Harrison Donaldson) extremely fine (4) £180-220

Denis Harrison Donaldson was born in 1896, the son of Dr. Tom Campbell Donaldson and Mrs. Emma Kathleen Donaldson, of The Elms, Harlington, Hounslow, Middlesex. He was educated at Epsom College, Epsom, Surrey, studied engineering at The City & Guilds College, London, and was a member of the University of London O.T.C. Tired of waiting for a commission, he enlisted in the 7th Battalion London Regiment, which along with Lance-Corporal Donaldson, arrived on the Western Front in March 1915. He was appointed Lance Sergeant on 16 May 1915, commissioned on 23 September 1915 in his own battalion and was killed in action two days later, on 25 September 1915, at the Battle of Loos. He is buried in Loos British Cemetery, France. He is also commemorated in Ireland’s Memorial Records, on the Epsom College Roll of Honour, two City and Guilds College War Memorials and the Harlington War Memorial.

The University of London O.T.C. Roll of Honour states that Second Lieutenant Donaldson was ‘killed by machine-gun fire in front of the enemy trench at the Battle of Loos on 25 September 1915 and buried at the foot of the Double Crassier.’

An obituary appears in The Epsomiam and relates the following:
‘He was leading his platoon as a Sergeant when he was killed, as he had only been gazetted the day before and the Regiment was not aware of the fact until afterwards. In a letter from Captain Fost, the adjutant, he says “He died leading his men against the German trenches and I saw him laid in his lasting place close to the German trenches he had helped to capture.”’