Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A scarce 'underage Casualty' 1914 Star group of three awarded to Private J. Guthrie, Royal Highlanders, who was shot in the thigh by a concealed sniper as he made his way from a rest area back to front line trenches in the prelude to the Battle of Neuve Chapelle.

Apparently aged just 16 years at the time of his wound, Guthrie would be one of the youngest soldiers entitled to the 1914 Star and a fine example of a young man who withheld his true age from the military authorities in order to have the opportunity to fight alongside his pals

1914 Star (1846 Pte. J. Guthrie. 1/5 R.Highrs.); British War and Victory Medals (1846 Pte. J. Guthrie. R. Highrs.); together with the recipient’s Silver War Badge, the reverse officially numbered ‘40051’, nearly extremely fine (3) £400-£500

James Guthrie appears to have been born in Arbroath in the first quarter of 1899, the fifth child of Robert Guthrie of 20 Green Street, Arbroath, Forfarshire, Scotland. Described in the Arbroath Guide of 3 April 1915 as a 'young student from Arbroath High School', Guthrie attested for the 5th Battalion, The Royal Highlanders (The Black Watch) on 9 February 1914, spending two weeks at camp from 18 July 1914 to 2 August 1914. Surviving attestation documents state his declared age as 17 years --- months, but this contrasts markedly with contemporary newspaper reports and the 1901 Census for Scotland which records his year of birth as 'about 1899' - and in 1897, his mother was rather busy giving birth to his elder brother Alexander.

Posted to France on 1 November 1914, Guthrie was attached to “F” Company and served 125 days overseas alongside the men from his home town. On 6 March 1915, his war came to a sudden halt when he received a sniper's bullet to the thigh in the run-up to the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. The Arbroath Herald of 12 March 1915 offers a little more detail:

'Mr Robert Guthrie, 20 Green Street, has received a letter from his son, Private James Guthrie, of the 5th Black Watch, stating that he has been wounded in the calf of the leg on the 3rd inst... Private Guthrie is in hospital at Clacton on Sea, and states he is doing well. At the time he was hit he saw two other members of the battalion injured - one in the forearm and the other in the head. The latter, he states, belonged to Montrose, and has died of his wounds. Private Guthrie is only 16 years of age and was one of the first to join the Arbroath High School Section of the Battalion.’

Having seemingly enjoyed a birthday, Guthrie went on to catch the attention of the Arbroath Guide a few weeks later on 3 April 1915: 'Private Guthrie, as we have mentioned before, is only 17 years of age. His friends hope that, having 'done his bit,' and even more than his bit, in the trenches for months, he may have a prolonged furlough.’

It appears that whilst recovering, James Guthrie developed a close friendship with the novelist W. J. Locke. He returned home to Arbroath and was finally discharged no longer fit for war service on 2 November 1915, the bullet wound to the right hip/thigh (the exact placement of the wound being contentious) ending his service. His medical records note one leg slightly longer than the other, a tilted pelvis and a limp.

Sold with a small white metal golfing fob, named ‘A. H. S., J. G. 1913’ - likely an award to the recipient from his school.