Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Private F. O’Brien, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, who was killed in action on the Western Front on 10 August 1917

British War and Victory Medals (34034 Pte. F. O’Brien. L.N. Lan. R.); Memorial Plaque (Frederick O’Brien) in card envelope; Memorial Scroll ‘Pte. Frederick O’Brien, Loyal N. Lancashire Regt.’, in OHMS transmission tube holder, addressed to Mrs. A. E. O’Brien, 70 Saxony Road, Kensington, Liverpool’, light wear to VM, otherwise good very fine (4) £120-£160

Frederick O’Brien was born in West Fortington, Dorset, in 1881. Formerly employed at the Exchange Hotel in Liverpool, he attested for the Liverpool Regiment in the city, before transferred to the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and serving on the Western Front with the 9th (Service) Battalion. Here he witnessed extensive action; according to Colonel H. C. Wylly in The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, 1914-1919, the 9th Battalion fought at the Somme, Ploegsteert, Messines, Bapaume, Lys, the Second Battle of the Aisne and at Kemmel. Much of this is supported by extant War Diary entries. Initially reported in the contemporary press as missing on 10 August 1917, O’Brien was later confirmed as killed in action on that date. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.

Sold with a large quantity of original ephemera, including the recipient’s Soldiers’ Small Book; a fine portrait photograph in military uniform; extensive correspondence regarding his time when missing, and later confirmed killed; original letters of transmittal regarding medals; condolence slip; a small newspaper cutting bearing an image of the recipient; and copied research.