Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War ‘Western Front’ M.C. group of four awarded to Captain D. P. Grant, 1/4th Battalion (Hallamshire) York and Lancaster Regiment, who was the author of the Great War 1/4th Battalion history

Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed; British War and Victory Medals (Capt.); Defence Medal, unnamed, mounted as worn, very fine and better (4) £1000-1200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the 1/4th (Hallamshire) Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment.

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M.C. London Gazette 16 September 1918. ‘For gallantry and devotion to duty during an enemy attack. He showed great coolness and ability in re-organising troops and forming them up in new positions, which he held successfully under very difficult circumstances. He showed fine powers of command’.

As a 2nd Lieutenant, Grant was appointed Adjutant of the 1/4th (Hallamshire) Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment in August 1916. He entered the France/Flanders theatre of war on 12 December 1916. With the unit at Nieuport, 2nd Lieutenant Grant was gassed on 27 July 1917 and was obliged to relinquish his position as Adjutant whilst he recovered. As a Lieutenant he returned to the battalion and resumed his duties as Adjutant on 7 December 1917, the battalion then stationed in the Ypres sector. As a Captain, he was involved in the heavy fighting resulting from the German Spring Offensive of 1918. It was for the fighting around ‘Bloody Farm’ near Vierstraat, that he was later awarded the Military Cross. Following on from the action, he was hospitalised on 23 May 1918 and was subsequently evacuated to England. His m.i.c. records his home address as ‘Hainault House, Chigwell School, Essex’.

Captain D. P. Grant was the author of The 1/4th (Hallamshire) Battn., York and Lancaster Regiment 1914-1919, printed for private circulation by Arden Press, Stamford Street, London, S.E.1. An original edition of this work is sold with this lot, 165pp., complete with four colour maps in pocket, original cloth, some spotting. The work is an excellent resource, providing names, dates, places and details involving the battalion. Also with a large photograph of the officers of the 1/4th (Hallamshire) Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment, dated ‘British Army of the Rhine, July 1919’.