Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1908 (6099 Pte. C. Button Pte. W.Y. Regt.) nearly extremely fine £240-£280

D.C.M. London Gazette 30 June 1915:
‘For great gallantry displayed in going out to the rescue of a man who had been wounded on an open road, under fire of the enemy 200 yards off, and carrying him to safety down a long ditch full of water.’

Charles Button was born in Hull, Yorkshire, in 1878 and attested for the West Yorkshire Regiment at York on 6 May 1901. He served with the 1st Battalion in India from 10 March 1902 to 8 February 1909, and was present during the operations in the Mohmand Country on the North West Frontier of India in 1908. Transferring to the Reserve on 6 May 1909, he was discharged on 5 May 1913, after 12 years’ service, but re-enlisted in the Reserve on 15 May 1913.

Recalled to the Colours on 5 August 1914, Button served with the 1st Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 24 September 1914. He was awarded 28 days’ Field Punishment on 11 November 1914, and then on 7 March 1915 was tried and convicted by a Court Martial of desertion, and was sentenced to 1 year’s imprisonment with hard labour; this was commuted to 2 months’ Field Punishment ‘on account of good service of the accused’- given the date of the London Gazette entry for his D.C.M. it is possible that he had already performed his act of gallantry, and it was this that saw his sentence greatly reduced.

Appointed Lance-Corporal, Button was wounded by gunshot the right thigh in May 1915, and was repatriated to the U.K. on 21 May of that year. He subsequently transferred to the Machine Gun Corps on 25 June 1916, and spent the rest of the War regularly appearing in front of disciplinary tribunals, usually whilst holding ‘Lance’ rank, resulting in a lot of sewing and un-sewing of his single stripe. He was discharged Class ‘Z’ Reserve on 20 March 1919, and died on 3 July 1924.

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