The Barry Hobbs Collection of Great War Medals

Three: Private H. Sandbrook, 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards, a Boer War veteran who was killed in action at Kruiseecke, during the First Battle of Ypres, on 29 October 1914

1914 Star (8179 Pte. H. Sandbrook. C. Gds.) lacquered; British War and Victory Medals (8179 Pte. H. Sandbrook. C. Gds.); Memorial Plaque (Henry Sandbrook) good very fine (4) £240-£280

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Barry Hobbs Collection of Great War Medals.

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Henry Sandbrook was born in August 1872 at Small Heath, Birmingham, Warwickshire and attested there for the Coldstream Guards in August 1890. He transferred to the Army Reserve in August 1893 but was mobilized on 9 October 1899 and served in South Africa for the entirety of the Boer War, 22 October 1899 until 21 July 1902, receiving the Queen’s Medal with 5 clasps and King’s Medal with 2 clasps. He was discharged again at the completion of his term of engagement on 26 August 1902.

Following the outbreak of the Great War Sandbrook served with the 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards on the Western Front from 7 October 1914 and was recorded missing presumed dead following a period of enemy attacks in overwhelming force at Kruiseecke on 29 October which reduced the battalion to just 1 officer and 60 other ranks:
‘Punctually at 5.30 a.m. on the morning of Thursday the 29th October in foggy weather the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division, covered by a screen of skirmishers, got up to within fifty yards of our defences without being seen, and made a rush upon the trenches of the right half of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards as well as upon the company of the Black Watch posted at the cross roads. Our troops were well on the alert and at once opened fire on the assailants, causing a slight pause in the attack ; but the momentum of the advance prevailed and carried the Germans forward without any serious check. The struggle at that point lasted for a short time only, and as no Officer survived it the exact details of what actually occurred are not fully known. It is, however, known that at least two of our machine guns jammed, and that a considerable proportion of the ammunition was defective, the cartridges were too large for the barrel of the rifles, and many of the men could not use their arms ; this circumstance was in fact largely responsible for the disaster of that day...
The left half of the Battalion, at some distance from the Menin road, were also attacked at the same time by units of the
XXVIIth Reserve Corps, but three resolute attempts to seize our position by assault were successfully repulsed...
But our ranks were thinning fast and those who survived were in deep and narrow trenches where they could not use their bayonets. Thus reduced to a small number and surrounded on all sides they were finally overwhelmed...
The 1st Battalion Coldstream lost all their eleven Officers present, and at the end of the day only some 60 other ranks were collected by Lieutenant and Quartermaster J. Boyd, the sole remaining Officer of the Battalion.’ (The Coldstream Guards. Vol I. 1914-18 by Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Ross-of-Bladensburg, K.C.B., K.C.V.O. refers)

Private Sandbrook was the husband of Florence Bessie Sandbrook of 124 St. John’s Hill, Clapham Junction, London and, having no known grave, is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.