Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Private W. D. King, Somerset Light Infantry

British War and Victory Medals (241097 Pte. W. D. King. Som. L.I.); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919 (241097 Spr. W. D. King. Som. L.I.) mounted for wear, contact marks, very fine, the rank on the IGS rare to unit (3) £80-£100

Walter Denham King, a printer from Bridgwater, Somerset, was born in 1895. He attested into the 5th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry on 2 September 1914 for service during the Great War, and served in Mesopotamia and India, including service on the North West Frontier of Afghanistan at the end of the War attached to the 3rd Wireless Signal Company, Royal Engineers. His brother Joseph and cousin William, who he had signed up alongside, together with another brother Joseph, both died of disease, having been taken Prisoners of War at Kut-Al-Amara. A unique rank on the regimental roll for the IGSM, he died aged 97 in Bridgwater in 1993.

Sold with a Somerset Light Infantry cap badge, copied research including a copy press clipping from a local newspaper, with a copy photograph of the recipient and two brothers, all listed as the sons of local councillor Joseph King.