The David Laban Collection of Great War Awards

David Laban

For the past 30 years I have run a small family business in the construction industry, and back in 2001, whilst one of my employees was on holiday and I was covering his work, my life changed forever. Whilst on site in Leeds, digging out for new water pipes, I found what I thought at the time was a brass badge buried approximately 18 inches deep in the ground. After closer inspection I realised that it was a Great War medal, and I noticed that it was named on the reverse to a Private E. Ackroyd of the Yorkshire Regiment. My first thoughts were to try and trace the family, and after speaking on the telephone to local medal dealer Andy Jukes from Wakefield (from whom over the years I have learnt so much, and benefitted from his wealth of knowledge regarding Great War medals), I knew that what I had found was the 1914 Star awarded to Private Ernest Ackroyd of the 2nd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment, who had been killed in action on 8 July 1916. He had come from Stanningley in Leeds, which is exactly where I’d been working. I was speechless. How did that medal get in the ground and what had happened to his family? I spent the rest of the week in the public library trying to trace his family, but to no avail.

From that day on I was hooked, and for the last twenty years, with the help of my very persevering wife, I have been chasing Great War medals, visiting antique fairs, auctions, antique centres, and even one time bought a motor home so we could travel around the country visiting places that were out of reach in a days travel. Finally I built up the courage to advertise in the local papers, and for many years bought direct from the public, uncovering some wonderful local items.

However, after twenty years it is time for the medals in my collection to go to a new home, and I am starting with those groups that include the Territorial Force War Medal, the medal given to those members of the Territorial Force who were members of the service on the outbreak of the Great War, and who saw active service overseas. There were only 33,944 of these medals awarded, which makes it the least common of the Great War campaign medals, and it is extremely scarce to certain units – in particular, I am extremely fond of the two in this collection that were awarded to Nurses from the Territorial Force Nursing Service, both of whom were also awarded the Royal Red Cross.

I plan to follow this sale with my collection of 1914 Star groups (although I am not sure that I can bear to part with Private Ackroyd’s 1914 Star, which I am holding in the photograph above!), along with some good gallantry groups; and then finish with my collection of Great War casualty groups, as well as other more modern groups from the Second War to the present day. However, my passion for military history and the Great War will never cease, and I will now start again, but with more emphasis this time on building up my collection of local items.
David Laban
September 2023