Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Victory Medal 1914-19 (5) (3001 Pte. H. C. Walpole. Norf. R.; 51290 Pte. T. Lloyd. Linc. R.; 24868 Pte. S. W. Barker. Suff. R.; 24851 Pte. A. J. Button. Suff. R.; 50026 Pte. A. E. Wiffen. Suff. R.) dark toning and damage to last, otherwise good very fine (5) £70-£90

Harry Walpole, of Great Yarmouth, was serving with the Norfolk Regiment when he was sent to Mesopotamia in July 1915. He later served as a sapper in the Royal Engineers (number WR/193377) and then again in the Norfolks with number 240627.

Thomas Lloyd, of Hollyhedge Lane, Walsall, attested for the Lincolnshire Regiment and served with the 2nd Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front. He was killed in action on 8 October 1918 during the attack on the Beaurevoir Line, and is buried in the Naves Communal Cemetery Extension, France.

Albert John Button, of Woodbridge, Suffolk, attested for the Suffolk Regiment and served with the 11th (Service) Battalion. He is listed as ‘drowned at sea’ on 17 April 1917, the day two British Hospital ships, the Donegal and the Lanfranc were torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel. It is certainly possible that Button had earlier been wounded when the 11th Battalion were engaged during the Battle of Arras at the beginning of April. He is commemorated on the Hollybrook Memorial, Southampton which lists men who were on board the Donegal.

Albert Edward Wiffen was born in Hackney, Middlesex and originally attested for the Middlesex Regiment as number G16792. He was killed in action in April 1918 whilst serving with the 11th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment on the Western Front. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Roll of Honour states that he died ‘between 9 April 1918 and 19 April 1918’, and Soldiers’ Died in the Great War lists his date of death as 19 April. The battalion has been involved in heavy fighting in the defensive action on the River Lys (Fourth battle of Ypres) from 9 April 1918. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium.