MEDAL AWARDED TO A SOLDIER KILLED AT THE GUINNESS BREWERY, DUBLIN AT THE HEIGHT OF THE EASTER RISING TO BE SOLD BY DIX NOONAN WEBB

A medal awarded to Lieutenant Basil Worswick, who was killed on 29 April 1916 at the Guinness Brewery in Dublin during the height of the Easter Rising by a guard, who thought he was a Sinn Fein spy, will be offered by Dix Noonan Webb in their live/ online auction of Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria on Wednesday, February 17, 2021 on their website www.dnw.co.uk. The 1914-15 Star plus copied research is being sold by a private collector and is expected to fetch £400-500.

Oliver Pepys, Associate Director and Medal Auctioneer at Dix Noonan Webb commented: “This intriguing lot combines the turbulent period in Ireland’s history with one of its best-loved products, so I am sure it will attract a lot of interest!”

Worswick went with the 2nd Battalion to Ireland, following the outbreak of the Easter Rising, the Regiment was sent to Dublin to help quell the disturbance in the city. On the night of 28-29 April, a detachment of the Dublin Fusiliers was stationed at the malt house of the Guinness brewery. When the night clerk of the brewery, accompanied by Lieutenant Lucas of the King Edward’s Horse, was making his nightly round of the brewery buildings, he was challenged by the very nervous and jumpy guard of Royal Dubliners. Mistaken for Sinn Feiners trying to infiltrate the brewery premises, the guard shot both the night clerk and Lucas dead. Worswick was in the next picket along and heard the commotion. Proceeding to investigate, he arrived at the malt house at dawn on 29 April 1916, and finding that his fellow officer had been killed, his suspicions were aroused. Challenged and searched by a sergeant of the Dublin Fusiliers, he rushed at him, knocked the man down. The guard, seeing this, and believing Worswick also to be a Sinn Fein spy, killed him instantly.

The Company Quartermaster Sergeant in charge of the party of Dublin Fusiliers, Robert Flood, was subsequently court-martialled for the deaths of Lieutenants Lucas and Worswick, but was acquitted, his actions attributed to the general confusion and panic that surrounded Dublin during the Easter Rising, and the responsibility for the unfortunate deaths deemed to rest entirely upon those who engineered the revolt. He was subsequently killed in action on the Dorian front in Macedonia the following year.

Worswick was buried in the grounds of Dublin Castle; his body was exhumed in 1963 and he is now buried in Grangegorman Military cemetery, Co. Dublin. He is also commemorated on the Glasnevin Memorial.

Basil Henry Worsley Worswick was born in 1881, the son of Colonel Worsley Worswick of Normanton Hall, Hinkley, Colonel Commandant of the Leicestershire Militia, and was educated at Downside. Emigrating to farm, first in Rhodesia, and then in Canada, he returned to the U.K. just prior to the outbreak of the Great War, and served for King Edward’s Horse, a cavalry regiment of the British Army in August 1914. He served with them as a trooper during the Great War on the Western Front from May 1915, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant.

Due to the current COVID 19 situation, this auction will be online only and there will be no room bidding available. Customers are able to bid live online (DNW make no additional charge for this service) or leave commission bids prior to the auction.


FORTHCOMING SALES AT DNW
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2 - COINS AND HISTORICAL MEDALS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9 - COINS, TOKENS AND HISTORICAL MEDALS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17 - ORDERS, DECORATIONS, MEDALS AND MILITARIA
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24 – BRITISH, IRISH AND WORLD BANKNOTES
TUESDAY, MARCH 2 – COINS AND HISTORICAL MEDALS
TUESDAY, MARCH 16 - JEWELLERY, WATCHES, ANTIQUITIES & OBJECTS OF VERTU
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17 - ORDERS, DECORATIONS, MEDALS AND MILITARIA
TUESDAY, APRIL 6 - COINS AND HISTORICAL MEDALS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14 - ORDERS, DECORATIONS, MEDALS AND MILITARIA

Free online bidding is available is www.dnw.co.uk
For more information, please call 020 7016 1700
DNW are on Social Media
Instagram @dixnoonanwebb
Facebook: dixnoonanwebb
Twitter @dixnoonanwebb
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Dix Noonan Webb – a brief history
In 1991, its first year of trading, the company held three medal auctions and sold 1,200 lots for a total hammer price of £553,000. Two years later it opened a coin department which also auctions commemorative medals and tokens and in 2015 DNW added jewellery to its sales calendar. In 2018, it set up a standalone banknotes department and expanded into premises next door. In the same year, DNW achieved a total hammer price of £11,676,580 and the total number of lots across all departments was 20,273. To date the company has sold in excess of 300,000 lots totalling £155 million.

For further press information and images please contact:
Rachel Aked - Tel: 07790732448/ Email: Rachel@rachelaked.co.uk
January 2021