Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A fine stretcher bearer's Victory Medal awarded to Private A. C. E. Mellor, M.M., Royal Army Medical Corps, who was decorated for removing wounded men from No-Man's Land under heavy shell fire

Victory Medal 1914-19 (52777 Pte. A. C. Mellor. R.A.M.C.) nearly very fine £50-£70

M.M. London Gazette 19 February 1917. 

Arthur Charles Ernest Mellor was born in Longton, Staffordshire, on 28 October 1891. A boot repairer and Uttoxeter postman, he attested for the Royal Army Medical Corps on 3 February 1915 and served in France from 16 July 1915. Posted to 134th Field Ambulance, it wasn't long before his gallantry caught the attention of the Ashbourne News Telegraph on 12 January 1917:

'Military Medal for Private Mellor: We have much pleasure in announcing that another Uttoxeter soldier has been awarded the Military Medal, the parents of Private Arthur Charles Ernest Mellor, of 19, The Hockley, having received the pleasing intelligence that their son has been awarded the distinction for gallantry and devotion to duty whilst bringing in wounded under shell fire in France.'

Remaining on the Western Front, Mellor later began to suffer with severe mental health complaints - almost certainly shell shock. Discharged on 17 September 1918, he recovered his health and was later able to receive his M.M. at Uttoxeter in July 1919, the ceremony including a standing ovation by local dignitaries and a rousing overture of 'Rule Britannia’.

Sold with copied research, including a newspaper article bearing a photograph of the recipient in military uniform.