Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Lieutenant J. C. T. ‘Charlie’ Oates, Royal Army Service Corps, a career railwayman on the Great Central Railway from 1894

British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. J. C. T. Oates) nearly extremely fine (2) £40-£60

John Charles Tomlinson Oates was born on 2 February 1880, at South Killingholme, Lincolnshire. ‘Charlie,’ as he was invariably known, began his career with the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway Company at Hull Corporation Pier station in 1894. This railway was renamed the Great Central Railway in August 1897. He was commissioned Lieutenant in the Army Service Corps on 5 February 1917, and served in France as a Railway Transport Officer from 28 February 1917. After the war he became District Inspector at Frodingham and subsequently yardmaster at Frodingham Yard, located in the great steel-producing area around Scunthorpe. He died suddenly on 23 April 1937, after an operation for goitre, aged 57. Sold with a copy of Back Track railway magazine which carries a 2-page article, with a portrait photograph, detailing his railway career.