Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Ten: Major F. H. Mattock, Royal Army Medical Corps

1914-15 Star (1643. Sjt. F. H. Mattock. R.A.M.C.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (1643 A.W.O. Cl.1. F. H. Mattock. R.A.M.C.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star, 1 clasp, 1st Army; France and Germany Star; War Medal 1939-45, the Second War awards all privately impressed 'Major F. H. Mattock T.D.'; Army L.S & G.C. Medal, G.V.R. (7745711 S Sjt. F. H. Mattock. R.A.S.C. [sic]); Army Meritorious Service Medal, G.V.R., 1st issue (1643 Sjt. -A.S. Mjr:- F. R. Mattock. R.A.M.C.); Efficiency Decoration, G.VI.R., 1st issue, Territorial, the reverse dated '1947', with integral top riband bar, mounted court-style by Spink, London, as worn, cleaned and lacquered, with the Stars silvered, nearly very fine (10) £400-£500

M.S.M. London Gazette 29 August 1918:
‘In recognition of valuable services rendered with the Forces in East Africa during the present War.’

Frederick Henry Mattock was born at Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, on 3 July 1890. He attested for service in the Royal Army Medical Corps on 1 July 1908, and was advanced Corporal whilst overseas in Egypt in the prelude to the Great War. Recalled home, he returned to Egypt on 3 April 1915 and was mentioned in despatches on 5 November 1915. Transferred to East Africa in April 1916, he saw action against the Germans and was promoted Acting Sergeant Major on 17 April 1917. Mattock was mentioned again on 7 March 1918, and his hard work addressing the needs of sick and wounded soldiers was recognised with the award of the Meritorious Service Medal a few months later.

A civil servant during the 1920s, Mattock rejoined the Royal Army Medical Corps on 15 May 1931, in the rank of Sergeant. Discharged to a Commission, he accepted appointment as Lieutenant and Quartermaster in the Territorial Army, before being called up for service on 25 August 1939, and transferred to the Regular Army. According to a letter from Regimental Headquarters, R.A.M.C., dated 6 December 1977, Mattock served with the British Expeditionary Force in France from 14 September 1939 to 1 June 1940. He was thus present as the army evacuated from northern France, all the time being harassed by the apparatus of Blitzkrieg.

Advanced Captain and Quartermaster on 1 January 1941, Mattock served over a year in North Africa, followed by a spell in North West Europe from 1 January 1945 until 17 April 1945. Granted the Efficiency Decoration on 10 October 1947, Mattock retired with the rank of honorary Major on 31 August 1948. He died at Okeford, Dorset, in 1966.

Sold with a Dunkirk Commemorative Medal and card from the 1940 Dunkirk Veterans Association dated 22 May 1975, together with a brass R.A.M.C. cap badge and copied research.

Note: The unit on the recipient’s Long Service and Good Conduct Medal is incorrectly impressed R.A.S.C., not R.A.M.C. No trace of service with the Royal Army Service Corps has been found, and so this is most likely a naming error by the Mint.