Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Bilingual Victory 1914-19 (4) (Pte. J. W. Abrahamse. 2nd S.A.I.; Pte. B. H. Kelly. 2nd S.A.I.; Pte. T. E. Knott. 2nd S.A.I.; Pte. J. H. E. Koch. 2nd S.A.I.) traces of adhesive to reverse of all, very fine and better (4) £70-£90

This lot is to be sold as part of a special collection, The Bernard Harris Collection of Medals to the 2nd Regiment, South African Infantry.

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John William Abrahamse was born in Cape Town and attested for the 1st South African Infantry at Potchefstroom in August 1917. Posted to the Western Front with the 2nd Regiment, he suffered a severe gunshot wound to the little finger of his left hand on 26 October 1918, and witnessed the Armistice whilst under medical attention at the South African Hospital in Richmond Park.

Bryan Hugh Kelly served with the 2nd South African Infantry during the Battle of the Somme and was severely wounded in action by shellfire at Moutaubin on 10 July 1916; his service record states wounds to both legs, neck and back, with ‘several small pieces of shrapnel’ left inside his body. Evacuated to the South African Military Hospital at Richmond Park, he was discharged medically unfit at Wynberg on 7 August 1917.

Thomas Edward Knott was born in Kimberley in 1896 and attested for the 1st South African Infantry at Potchefstroom on 24 September 1915, stating 9 months of previous service with the Kalahari Horse. Posted to the Western Front with the 2nd Regiment, he received a gunshot wound to the left foot on 10 July 1916, and was later reported as a Prisoner of War in Germany on 24 March 1918. Repatriated 10 January 1919, he likely returned to his pre-war civilian employment as an engine driver in a South African mine.

John Henry Edwin Koch was born in 1890 and attested for the 2nd South African Infantry at Johannesburg on 21 July 1917. He joined the Regiment on the Western Front 16 January 1918, and was reported as missing on 24 March 1918. Later confirmed as a Prisoner of War, he was repatriated after the Armistice and disembarked at Cape Town in June 1920.

Sold with copied service records for all four recipients.