Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Private T. M. White, 15th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, who was mortally wounded during his regiment’s ‘Final Assault’ of the Great War on the German-held village of Limont Fontaine on 7 November 1918, and died of his wounds a week later on 14 November 1918, days after the Armistice

British War and Victory Medals (95561 Pte. T. M. White. Durh. L.I.) minor staining to obverse of VM, otherwise good very fine (2) £80-£100

Thomas Mattimore White was born in Durham on 17 May 1896 and was orphaned whilst still a small boy. Taken under the wing of his stepfather, Peter Kelly, he is recorded in 1911 as a 14-year-old pony driver at Silksworth Colliery. Mobilised on 23 May 1918, he served with the 15th Battalion on the Western Front from 12 September 1918.

The Last Battle, 7 November 1918
The circumstances leading up to Thomas’s death are described in detail by durhamatwar.org.uk, which details the drafts of young conscripts from County Durham arriving in Northern France to take the places of experienced soldiers who had fallen before the guns of a tired and over stretched - but not yet beaten - German Army. On 5 November 1918, after resting for 10 days, the 15th Battalion joined the advance and crossed the River Sambre by pontoon bridge. Detailed to attack Limont Fontaine on 7 November 1918, their inexperience showed; in hand-to-hand combat 25 men were killed and 90 wounded, of whom 7 died of their wounds over the next few days - including White.

This last engagement of the Durham Light Infantry during the Great War also cost the life of one of its most decorated soldiers; Captain Arthur Moore Lascelles, V.C., M.C., who had been at war since 1914, also fell at Limont Fontaine, perhaps the most experienced man to die on the field that day.