Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Private R. C. Dennis, 7th and 12th Light Horse Regiments, Australian Imperial Force, who was wounded and evacuated from Gallipoli in 1915 and subsequently served with the 4th Light Horse Brigade at the time of the cavalry charge to capture Beersheba, 31 October 1917

1914-15 Star (412 Pte R. C. Dennis. 12/L.H. Rgt. A.I.F.); British War and Victory Medals (412 Pte. R. C. Dennis. 12 L.H.R. A.I.F.) very fine (3) £300-£400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Warwick Cary.

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Roy Charles Dennis was born in 1893 in Sydney, Australia. A stationer by occupation, he attested for the Australian Imperial Force in May 1915 and embarked from Sydney for the Middle East with B Squadron, 12th Light Horse Regiment on 13 June 1915. Following disembarkation in Alexandria and a temporary stay at Camp Mena, Egypt, he served in Gallipoli with the 7th Light Horse Regiment from 29 August and was wounded in action on 7 September, remaining with his unit at Anzac. On 1 December 1915, he was admitted to the 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station on the peninsula, from which he was evacuated to Cairo and admitted to the Australian General Hospital. Following a period at convalescent camp at Alexandria, he returned to the 12th Light Horse Regiment on 22 February 1916 seeing further operations in Egypt, Sinai and Palestine.

Dennis was attached to the 4th Light Horse Brigade Signals Troop on 10 August 1917 and was present with the Brigade at the time of their celebrated charge to take Beersheba on 31 October 1917. On this occasion, late in the afternoon, they advanced over open ground in a pure cavalry charge, getting under the Ottoman guns and capturing the town. Over 700 Ottoman soldiers were captured and, more significantly for the Australians, the vital water wells were secured. In achieving this, the 4th Light Horse Brigade lost 35 men men killed and 39 wounded.

On 20 July 1919 Dennis embarked from Suez in the troopship Morvada bound for Australia and was discharged in Sydney on 28 October 1919. He died in 1982.

Note: This lot is available for viewing in Swanbourne, Western Australia, by appointment with our Australasian representative, John Burridge.