Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An unusual Victory Medal awarded to Acting Warrant Officer 2nd Class W. T. McGuire, Royal Garrison Artillery, who served on the Arabian peninsula as part of the ‘Aden Brigade’ using camels to pull the gun carriages, but whose military career was promptly terminated when convicted of theft in Scotland

Victory Medal 1914-19 (14433 Cpl. W. T. McGuire. R.A.) nearly extremely fine £40-£50

William Thomas McGuire was born in Woolwich, London, on 18 November 1886. During the Great War he joined a very select force of British and Indian Troops, serving in Aden from 4 July 1915 with the 61st Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. He arrived as Ottoman forces from North Yemen crossed the frontier of the Aden hinterland and attempted to capture the capital of the Abdali Sultanate of Lahij - which at that time acted as the centre of trade between the British crown colony of Aden, and its hinterland, the princely states under a protectorate.

Outnumbered by several thousand Ottoman troops and Arab tribesmen from Mawiyah supported by twenty guns, the British were forced to withdraw on the Kawr, their decision hastened by extreme heat and a lack of drinking water. The loss of Lahij and death of the Sultan proved a bitter pill for the British, more so given the desertion of the camel drivers in the night, but it wasn’t long before they exacted their revenge; according to Aden by author Richard J. Shuster, a small force under Lieutenant Colonel A. M. S. Elsmie later ‘completely defeated them’ at Shaikh Othman.

McGuire survived the war and is recorded in the British Army List of 1922 as Master Gunner. He remained with the Territorials throughout the 1920s, but his military career came to an abrupt end on 16 July 1929 when he was convicted at Dunfermline Sheriff Court of stealing copper cable; the recipient’s MIC notes discharge on 21 August 1929, but adds: ‘medals not forfeited.’