Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Iraq (4437 Pte. H. Blair. Manch. R.) attempted erasure of surname but details all fully legible, edge nicks, very fine £50-£70

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Robert Barltrop Collection of Medals to the Manchester Regiment.

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Henry Blair was born at Holloway, London, in 1871 and enlisted in the army on 1 October 1915, initially into the Bedfordshire Regiment. He was transferred a few days later to the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and landed in France to join the 9th Battalion on 2 July 1916. On 28 September 1916 he transferred again to the 10th (Service) (5th City) Battalion, Manchester Regiment. In November 1917 his battalion moved to the Italian Front, but returned to the Western Front in September 1918. Blair was wounded (gun shot wound to the left hand) on 3 October 1918. He is entitled to the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his service in the Great War.

In March 1919, Blair transferred to the 2nd Battalion, which in February 1920 was under orders for Mesopotamia, and served at Basrah, Tekrit and at Hillah in the ‘Manchesters Column’; he was one of those taken prisoner of the Arabs at Hillah on 24 July 1920, only being handed back to the British army in October after several months of harsh treatment. He was discharged to the Army Reserve in February 1923.

Sold with copied service papers and other research.