Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Second Lieutenant H. L. M. Ellis, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, an ordained Flintshire priest, who died of wounds received at Bullecourt on 5 May 1917
1914-15 Star (16034 Pte. H. L. M. Ellis. R.W. Fus:); Victory Medal 1914-19 (2. Lieut. H. L. M. Ellis.) nearly extremely fine

Three: Second Lieutenant J. Doherty, Welsh Regiment
1914-15 Star (32519 L.Sjt. J. Doherty. Welsh R.); British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. J. Doherty.) mounted as worn, polished, fine (5) £120-£160

Hugh Lodwick Maldwyn Ellis was born at Porth, Glamorgan, around 1889, the son of Evan Lodwick and Elizabeth Ellen Ellis of The Rectory, Ysceifiog. Educated at Ellesmere College, Ellis proceeded to take up Holy Orders and followed in his father’s footsteps, working under his father as a curate in the Parish of Ysceifiog while he pursued his studies at Jesus College (the Welshmen’s college), Oxford.

Posted to France with the 13th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers on 1 December 1915, Ellis was discharged to a commission in the 21st (Reserve) Battalion on 7 February 1916 and returned to the Western Front with the 1/2nd Battalion. Sent to front line trenches near the village of Bullecourt, Ellis died in the late spring of 1917 whilst attempting to advance on the Hindenburg Line. An extract from his local Welsh newspaper, adds:
‘The late soldier was a favourite with the parishioners and there was a large crowd of them present [at his Memorial Service], in addition to the sorrowing family. He was a staunch patriot, full of enthusiasm for all things Welsh.’

Ellis is buried in Achiet-Le-Grand Communal Cemetery Extension; his father died not long afterwards aged 57 years on 24 February 1919.

James Doherty served in France from 4 December 1915 as Lance Sergeant in the 16th (Service) Battalion (Cardiff City), The Welsh Regiment. Posted to front line trenches in the Moated Grange Sector, near Neuve Chapelle, the men spent the new year gaining considerable experience of raiding and trench warfare. Moved to the Somme on 11 June 1916, the Battalion fought at Mametz Wood from 7-12 July 1916; described as a ‘vicious melee amongst shell-torn trees and undergrowth’ the Battalion lost over 350 officers and men, part reaching their objective in controlling the majority of the wood. Deployed to Pilckem and Langemarck in 1917, Doherty was sometime advanced Sergeant and later appointed to a commission as Second Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, Welsh Regiment on 26 June 1918.

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