A Day At The Fair

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I was helping out at the Aldershot Militaria Society Fair in Farnham yesterday and found this in an odds and ends box.  Now I know nothing about medals, and it’s in pretty poor condition, but it looked interesting, and it was only a pound.

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And this, from what I have subsequently ascertained, appears to be what it is:

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A silver one, it seems.  Worth spending a pound on, methinks.

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These, I did not find in an odds and ends box.  That’s my pocket money gone for the next few months.  For your information, Privates Dale and Bennett were both killed in 1918, the former during the German advance in March, the latter just three months before the war’s end.  Private Robert Dale, aged 22, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), is remembered on the walls of the Pozieres Memorial on the Somme (we shall visit the memorial in a future ‘Somme’ post).  Private Walter Bennett, just 19, Royal Fusiliers, is buried at Queant Road Cemetery near Buissy, about seven miles north east of Bapaume.  His father, Albert, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), was killed on the Somme on 3rd July 1916 and is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial.

Private Frederick Hill, also 19, Grenadier Guards, was killed near Ypres on 27th October 1914.  His body, like that of Private Dale, was never recovered and he is remembered on the Menin Gate.  If anyone fancies researching anything else about these soldiers, be my guest.  I shall get round to it in time.

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Good company too.  Cheers Duncan!

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4 Responses to A Day At The Fair

  1. Sid says:

    What a find and original silver at that – please MJ I’d like your investment gain percentage applied to the few dollars in my bank account! Is that the Duncan I’m thinking of? Please pass on my best wishes to him (thanks). Instead of the usual two steps backwards our team took half a step forward last week in regards “the project”

    • Magicfingers says:

      I know. Last year someone found a tiny Menin Gate badge in one of the odds and sods boxes for two pounds, which turned out to be from the inauguration in 1927, so this year I thought I’d see what I could find. And I’m glad I did!!

      No, that’s Duncan the Younger in the photo. But Duncan the Elder has read your comment here and says hi! Both make an appearance here:
      https://thebignote.com/2015/01/15/guildford-cemetery/

      • Sid says:

        Thank you for Duncan – I was somewhat bemused with his recalled image in my mind that he had “changed shape” as can happen to an “elder”. But no. As we would say in my neck-of-the-woods, and as an endearment, still lean as a kangaroo dog (sadly no longer so for myself).

        The closest I’ll be to Flanders this year is selling poppies for our RSL on 11th November – incidentally our “Flanders poppies” are in full bloom in our garden at the moment

        • Magicfingers says:

          Well I have just, this very evening, booked tickets on the train to go and see the family Baldrick at the end of November. Be very very jealous! But seriously, you know how important the poppy tradition is, so respect for doing your bit Sid. And I bet the garden looks lovely.

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