The Collection of Medals to Welsh Regiments formed by the Late Llewellyn Lord

Four: Lieutenant J. O. Caldwell, Royal Welsh Fusiliers

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal, Orange Free State (4974 Corl. J. Caldwell, R. Welsh Fus.); 1914 Star, with copy clasp (9762 Sjt. J. O. Caldwell, R.W. Fus.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. J. O. Caldwell), mounted as worn, very fine or better (4) £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals to Welsh Regiments formed by the Late Llewellyn Lord.

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James Oswald “Jimmy” Caldwell, who was born in Glasgow in April 1878, enlisted in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers at Jhansi, India in April 1896, direct from employment at a photographic studio in Jubbulpore. Advanced to Corporal in September 1897, he returned to England with the 1st Battalion in the same year, where he passed a course for Assistant Instructor Military Engineering at Chatham in June 1898 and gained a ‘distinguished’ rating for musketry.

Embarked for South Africa in October 1899, Caldwell was present at the relief of Ladysmith, including operations on the Tugela Heights, and in Cape Colony, Orange River Colony and the Transvaal (Queen’s Medal & 5 clasps); in Duty Done it is stated that he was subsequently present at the relief of Tientsin in July 1900 but, if so, such service is not listed under his name in Army Lists after he received his commission. More certain is the fact he purchased his discharge in June 1903, when he turned his hand to the family business, photography, back in India.

However, in November 1907 he re-enlisted in his old regiment at Calcutta, and was taken on the strength of the 2nd Battalion. Having then served in Burma and Malta, he was advanced to Sergeant and embarked for France on 10 August 1914. He was subsequently promoted to Company Sergeant-Major and served in the early actions of the B.E.F. A glimpse of him about this time is to be found in The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919, by Captain J. C. Dunn, in which R.S.M. Boreham recalled the following incident on 23 October 1914:

‘This night I had just finished the burial when heavy rifle fire started. I and a couple of men with me dashed across the road and jumped into the ditch - on top of R.S.M. Murphy and Jimmy Caldwell. They had come up from the first echelon of transport ‘to see if anything was going on’ - and there was! The front was under fire, more or less, all night.’

Caldwell was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant ‘for services in the Field’ in February 1915 but was invalided home in May, some sources stating on account of wounds received at Bois Grenier on 25 April 1915. Having then rejoined the 2nd Battalion in France in late October 1915 and been advanced to Lieutenant, he was wounded by shellfire while consolidating a mine crater in the Cambrin sector on 7 February 1916. He was invalided home.

As it transpired, Caldwell was to suffer a similar fate in January 1917, for, having returned to France with an appointment in the 10th Battalion in late 1916, he contracted a septic leg wound from barbed wire. Notwithstanding his many medical boards, he was again embarked for active service in July 1918, this time on attachment to the 11th Battalion in Salonika, and remained likewise employed until transferring to India in late 1918. He was invalided home for a final time in May 1920, the same year in which he was placed on the Retired List, and died in 1957; sold with copied research.