Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Private A. Haldenby, 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards, who was killed in action whilst on patrol on the Western Front on 28 September 1914 - for rescuing the wounded member of the patrol, Lance-Corporal F. W. Dobson, of the same Battalion, was awarded the Victoria Cross

1914 Star (7317 Pte A. Haldenby. C. Gds.); British War and Victory Medals (7317 Pte. A. Haldenby. C. Gds.); Memorial Plaque (Albert Haldenby) in card envelope, nearly extremely fine (4) £240-£280

Albert Haldenby was born in Minster, Yorkshire, in 1890 and attested for the Coldstream Guards. He served with the 2nd Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 26 August 1914, and was killed in action whilst on patrol on 28 September 1914:

‘On Monday 28 September the day dawned in thick mist, but just as one of these patrols from the Tunnel Post, consisting of three men, were approaching the German trenches, the mist suddenly lifted and two of the three men were instantly shot, the third escaping to the trench, with 5 bullets in his legs and had been hit in the arms. To leave the wounded out until darkness set in, when rescue would be more feasible, meant exposure for many hours without attention, while to attempt to get them in by daylight, which entailed crossing a considerable distance in full view of the enemy and exposed the whole way to his fire, appeared an impossible achievement. Nevertheless, Lance-Corporal F. W. Dobson volunteered to try, and crawled out under a heavy fire to the two men, one of whom, Private Albert Haldenby, he found dead, but the other man, Private Butler, he found alive but badly wounded in three places. Having done what he could to apply first-aid dressings to the wounded man, Dobson crawled back, and then accompanied by Corporal Brown, a second volunteer, with whose help he succeeded in dragging out a stretcher, he crawled out a second time, and finally brought the wounded man back to safety. The second adventure was assisted by a partial return of the mist.’

For this act of conspicuous bravery, Lance-Corporal Dobson was awarded the Victoria Cross, and Corporal Brown was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

Haldenby’s body was subsequently recovered, and he is buried in Vailly British Cemetery, France.

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