The Jack Webb Collection of Medals and Militaria

City of London Imperial Volunteers Memorial Tablet, commemorating Private E. L. York, 21st Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps (Finsbury Rifles) and City of London Imperial Volunteers, who died at Bloemfontein on 7 May 1900

A cast bronze Memorial Tablet, 2 feet 9 inches in width, to commemorate the life of a soldier in the City of London Imperial Volunteers. Below the pediment are two lines of the inscription ‘The City of London Imperial Volunteers’ and ‘dulce et decorum est pro patria mori’ and at the centre of the lower line the initials "CIV" within a wreath.
Then a plate with impressed raised lettering:
‘In memory of Edwin Louis York a Private in this regiment and Lance Corporal in the 21st Middlesex (Finsbury) Volunteers, son of Edwin York and Annie Elizabeth his wife of this parish. He died at Bloemfontein 7th of May 1900 during the South African Campaign, aged 21 years.’
And at the bottom, the final part of the inscription and a cartouche with flourishes containing the dates of the service of the C.I.V. Ordinarily, surmounted on the pediment would be a Royal Crown and also below the pediment would be the Arms of the City of London in high relief. Both Crown and Arms are now missing from York’s plaque, otherwise good condition £300-£500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Jack Webb Collection of Medals and Militaria.

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At the conclusion of the C.I.V.’s campaign in South Africa, a bronze memorial tablet was placed in the parish church of each of the seventy-two members of the regiment who had given his life, subject to the approval of the respective incumbents. The Lord Mayor of London commissioned Mr Frederick Wheeler, F.R.I.B.A., of 56 Staple Inn, London, to prepare the design, the whole outer portion being made of bronze and the inscription in copper repoussé. The tablets, measuring 2 feet 9 inches, were executed by the Coalbrookdale Co. 141, Queen Victoria Street.

Edwin Louis York was born in Islington, London in 1879. A warehouseman by occupation, he enlisted into the 21st Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps (Finsbury Rifles) on 30 January 1896, advancing to Lance Corporal, and served with their detachment in South Africa during the Boer War as a Private in the City Imperial Volunteers. He died of enteric fever at Bloemfontein on 7 May 1900 and was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with two clasps.

This memorial tablet was originally erected in Quadrant Congregational Church, Highbury, London, but was removed when the bombed church was rebuilt in the 1950s.

Please note that this lot is not suitable for shipping, but can be hand delivered within mainland Britain by prior arrangement with Christopher Mellor-Hill.