Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Private F. Anderson, Gordon Highlanders, a ‘Piper of the Great War’ who was captured and taken Prisoner of War at Le Cateau on 21 August 1914

1914 Star (857 Pte. F. Anderson. 1/Gord. Highrs.); British War and Victory Medals (857 Pte .F. Anderson. Gord. Highrs.) mounted as worn, nearly very fine (3) £240-£280

Frank Anderson, a native of Huntly, Aberdeenshire, attested for the Gordon Highlanders and served as a Piper with the 1st Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 13 August 1914. He was captured and taken Prisoner of War at Le Cateau on 21 August 1914, and was held at Doberitz Prisoner of War camp. His Prisoner of War status is confirmed on both his Medal Index Card and the 1914 Star medal roll, and the International Red Cross Great War Prisoner of War records show his rank variously as Piper and Private. Although Anderson is not recorded in the book “The Pipes of War” by Seton & Grant, the book itself clearly states that it is not a complete and comprehensive record, rather an accumulation of names from contemporary accounts, and consequently Anderson can now be added to the roll of ‘Pipers of the Great War’.

Sold with two original newspaper cuttings and additional copied research, including a copy of a wartime article from a local Huntly newspaper which features an article about the Anderson family and which shows a photograph of Frank Anderson in piper’s uniform stating ‘Piper Frank Anderson, 1st Gordons, Prisoner of War’.