Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War ‘Passchendaele’ M.M. group of three awarded to Private E. Edgerton, Lancashire Fusiliers, who was captured and taken Prisoner of War at Hargicourt on the first day of the German Spring Offensive on 21 March 1918

Military Medal, G.V.R. (201278 Pte. E. Edgerton. 3/5 Lanc: Fus: -T.F.); British War and Victory Medals (201278 Pte. E.Edgerton. Lan. Fus.) good very fine (3) £260-£300

M.M. London Gazette 14 January 1918.

Ernest Edgerton was born in Heywood, Lancashire, in 1880 and attested for the Lancashire Fusiliers (Territorial Force). He served initially with the 3/5th Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 1917; the battalion saw heavy fighting at Passchendaele, for which Edgerton was awarded the Military Medal, but due to the significant casualties involved the battalion was soon after disbanded. Transferring to the 2/7th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, he was captured and taken Prisoner of War at Hargicourt on 21 March 1918, the first day of the German Spring Offensive. Repatriated following the cessation of hostilities, he was discharged on 16 February 1919. He married his fiancée Bertha Delon (who he had elected to be his next-of-kin during the Great War) in 1920, and died in Bury on 30 July 1941.

Sold with a USB stick with extensive research.

Note: A lot of contemporary documents relating to the recipient, including Field Service and Red Cross postcards sent to his fiancée both before and after his capture, and various official letters regarding his statues, first as Missing, and then as a P.O.W., is known to exist and was sold by an online dealer in 2012.