Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Family Group:

Five: Colour Sergeant A. Thorpe, Northumberland Fusiliers, later South African Infantry
Queen’s Sudan 1896-98 (4415. L: Sgt. A. Thorpe. 1/Northd.: Fus:); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Belmont, Modder River, Orange Free State, Transvaal (4415 Clr:-Serjt: A. Thorpe. North’d Fus:); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (4415 Clr:- Serjt: A. Thorpe. North’d Fus:); British War Medal 1914-20 (Cpl. A. Thorpe. 4th. S.A.I.); Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, 1 clasp, Khartoum (4415. Sergt. A. Thorpe. 5th. Fusers.) Regimentally engraved naming; together with South Africa ‘Sons of England Society’ Jewel, silver, the reverse recently engraved ‘Presented to Wor. Bro. A. Thorpe Past President of the Sons of England Society 1917-1918’, minor edge bruising, generally very fine

Six: Bombardier K. B. Thorpe, Union Defence Force
1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Africa Service Medal, all officially impressed ‘329689 K. B. Thorpe’; together with a South Africa Royal Visit medallion, bronze, unnamed as issued, nearly extremely fine (11) £400-£500

Aubrey Thorpe was born in Hastings, Sussex, on 23 August 1877 and attested for the Northumberland Fusiliers at Aldershot on 10 January 1895. He was appointed Lance Corporal on 13 November the same year, then promoted to Corporal on 29 February 1896, and Sergeant on 30 November 1898. He served with the 1st Battalion in Egypt and the Sudan from 17 January 1898, and was present at the Battle of Khartoum on 2 September 1898.

Thorpe served in South Africa during the Boer War from 16 September 1899, and was involved with the Relief of Kimberley, and was present at the Battles of Belmont and Modder River. At the battle of Modder River the Fusiliers lost 11 men killed and 34 wounded. The Regiment was not involved in the battle of Magersfontein, as they were instead involved in holding the camp and making a diversion along the railway to the left of the real attack. The Regiment saw little action in the first quarter of 1900, and after the fall of Bloemfontein the Regiment occupied Hoopstad, a town 150 kilometres north of Bloemfontein, before moving to the Kroonstad district to protect Roberts's lines of communication. The Regiment saw action at Lindley (150 miles south of Johannesburg) in June 1900, before moving into the Western Transvaal in pursuit of Boer General de Wet.

Thorpe was promoted Colour Sergeant on 1 September 1900, and early the following year the Regiment was involved in a battle with the Boers at Lichtenburg, where 15 men were killed and 26 wounded. Late in 1901, on 24 October, as part of Methuens Brigade, the Regiment were attacked by de la Rey near Zeerust, at the battle of Kleinfontein, where the regiment had 13 men killed and 14 wounded. Early in 1902, on 24 February, the Regiment was again in action against de la Rey in the Klerksdorp district, at the battle of Ysterspruit, where they had 12 men killed and 62 wounded.

Thorpe transferred to the Reserves in June 1902, and was discharged on 9 January 1907, after 12 years’ service. Subsequently emigrating to South Africa, he was employed as a Shift Boss on the gold mines, east of Johannesburg, and it was probably here that he started with Pulmonary Tuberculosis, the disease from which he died in 1930. A few months before the end of the Great War he enlisted with the South African Infantry, but did not serve with them overseas. He died on 15 July 1930.

Kenneth Beresford Thorpe, the son of the above, was born in Germiston, near Johannesburg, on the 27 August 1910, and attested for the South African Artillery on 15 August 1940; at the time of attestation he was a Shift Boss on the Simmer and Jack Gold Mine. He saw service in North Africa from May 1943 to February 1944, before being posted to Italy in March 1944. He was discharged, medically unfit, on 19 February 1945.

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