21 replies to this topic

[TEW]

Well, as the title suggests having found my Grandfather's medals were auctioned in Feb' of this year. I contacted the auction house and once the date had been worked out they contacted the seller who was more than happy to speak to me about returning the medals to the family. Needless to say I'm over the moon with this result and had thought the BWM and Victory long gone. The group were together until 1995 and the whole lot 'mis-laid'. The other 'Star' mentioned in the auction listing was a 14 or 14-15 Star and not my Grandfather's.

More medal queries to follow.

Would like this to give hope to those seeking their own family's medals.

Thanks TEW

The BWM and Victory arrived yesterday and here they are:




Engraved as per issue:



And the star of the show which I found on ebay in 2005, with contemporary private engraving. Suppl. London Gazette 1/1/1918 p30. Haven't found a LG entry for the Bar. Didn't originally want to mention having the MC as I thought it might hike the price of the pair.

[Pighills]

Great news, I remember reading your original thread at the time.  So glad you've got them back

[Keith Roberts]

That's really good news. Congratulations, and well done for the collector who bought them at auction for being willing to part.

Keith

[auchonvillerssomme]

I can't find a bar yet but i guess you may have these.

5th Battalion, The King's Own (Yorkshire

Light InfantryPrivate Edward George Lang Whiteaway,

from the 28th (County of London) Battalion,

The London Regiment (Artists' Rifles),

to be Second Lieutenant. Dated 20th

March, 1915.

SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 14 MAY, 1919. 607
6th Bn., West Yorkshire Regt.

—Lt. (actg-.. Maj.) E. G. L. Whiteaway, M.C., 5th Bn.,. K.O.Y.L.I., relinquishes the actg. rank of Maj.-on ceasing to be empld. 16th Apr.-

6986 SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 28 JUNE, 1920
L.t. E. G. L. Whiteaway, M.C., from 5th Bn., Yorkshire Light Infantry, to be Maj. 29th June 1920.

[ph0ebus]

This is a great ending to what in most cases would be a sad story.  Well done to you and also the honorable buyer who did the right thing!

-Daniel

[TRAJAN]

Keith Roberts, on 17 June 2012 - 04:54 PM, said:

...That's really good news. Congratulations, and well done for the collector who bought them at auction for being willing to part...

Indeed, indeed! I have sometimes thought of looking for my grandpa's mutt and jeff and it's nice to know that there are some collectors out there who are prepared to part with family 'heirlooms', even if some family members (including recipients!) sold them in the first place. I recently located (but have not tried to get back) a relative's Korean Medal and as my daughter (his great neice) said, it's a family heirloom - it should stay in family! Wish that was always the case...

Trajan

[jscott]

Great news TEW - how did you manage to track these down?

[munster]

Great news am delighted for you.john

[mmm45]

Excellent result.Just a bit of info if you haven't got it .
Major EGL Whiteway is mentioned in Saturday Soldiers Page 155. As working with D Coy 2/4 th KOYLI on 22nd July 1918 around Bouilly.

Ady

[old owl]

Tremendous news. You must be over the moon to have reunited these, both with themselves and your family.

Strange though that he thought he should have a second award bar to his M.C.? if it is not gazetted!

[SteveE]

old owl, on 17 June 2012 - 09:50 PM, said:

Strange though that he thought he should have a second award bar to his M.C.? if it is not gazetted!

But it is....

LG #31119, 11th January 1919, Page 598.  Link is here...http://www.london-ga...supplements/598

Lt. (A./Maj.) Edward George Lang Whiteaway, M.C., 5th Bn., York. L.I., T.F., attd. 1/5th Bn., Devon. R., T.F.
He taped out a position for assembly in advance of our positions under heavy machine-gun and shell fire, and though wounded did not desist from his work until it was completed. His gallant devotion to duty ensured the success of the start of next day's operations.
(M.C. gazetted 1st January, 1918.)

Regards

Steve

[Wendy Mac...]

Well done TEW, I recently found two of my great uncles WW1 sets myself so I know how thrilled you must be.
The medals look great, I'm very pleased for you

Wendy

[old owl]

SteveE, on 17 June 2012 - 10:34 PM, said:

But it is....

LG #31119, 11th January 1919, Page 598.  Link is here...http://www.london-ga...supplements/598

Lt. (A./Maj.) Edward George Lang Whiteaway, M.C., 5th Bn., York. L.I., T.F., attd. 1/5th Bn., Devon. R., T.F.
He taped out a position for assembly in advance of our positions under heavy machine-gun and shell fire, and though wounded did not desist from his work until it was completed. His gallant devotion to duty ensured the success of the start of next day's operations.
(M.C. gazetted 1st January, 1918.)

Regards

Steve

Thanks Steve. This ties in with the engraving and I am sure that TEW will be delighted that you have filled this gap for him. Great Stuff!!

[Cam]

Great news, gives hope to all of us still looking for family medals.

[TEW]

Thanks to all for the feedback,

I have some more paperwork relating to what I assume is the award of the MC which I’ll dig out ASAP. Also I will have a few queries regarding how to go about getting all the medals back into a better condition, e.g. cleaning, new ribbons other bits that may be missing.


Auchonvillerssomme, SteveE and old owl

Thanks for finding the award in the LG for the bar. The MC and later the Bar were the two entries I’ve never been able to find. Partly because I’d been looking for E. G. L. etc when his full names are used and that the surname in both cases and breaks over the line like ‘White-‘

There is also a MID entry in issue 31085 and I’ve put his MID card up. I guess this means he should also have an Oak Leaf to go on the Victory ribbon??



jscott,

Didn’t really track them down. I had a saved search on ebay as the MC turned up there in 2005. I used to have a website of GF’s original WWI material with a page devoted to the missing medals. One morning I received 20 emails from researchers and others telling me the MC was up for Auction on ebay.

Other family heirlooms turn up from time to time on ebay and last year my sister was contacted by someone who had bought six family portrait paintings at Bonhams. Lot 103 from 13/4/2011was 3 pairs of paintings: EGLW, his wife, two children (one my father) and a pair showing my Great Great Grandparents (shown in above link). Lot 101 was a pair of portraits of my Great Grandparents (co-founder of Whiteaway and Laidlaw, Calcutta).

Anyway, recently I found some auction listings at http://www.invaluable.com/ for the paintings and used their search box and did a surname search using the forthcoming and the archive options. There, in amongst the paintings was a listing for a 2012 Auction; Lot 452: Two World War I medals awarded to Major E.G.L...... This is when I went into a blind panic and nearly fell off the chair. Chiswick Auction House were fantastic and set about trying to pin down a date. In the mean time I emailed Invaluable.com and they gave me the date for the auction which I passed onto Chiswick who immediately contacted the owner and emailed me back.

MM45,

Thanks for this additional bit of info, wasn’t aware of this in print. Who’s the author?, is it Sellwood? I had my Grandfather’s original material for this period with the 2/4^th KOYLI on a website circa 2000-2005, if the book dates after this the info may have been copied from the site. (not a problem with me).

Thanks again
TEW

[ScottM]

TEW - Chris Dixon can sort you out with all of the mounting, display needs you have. Personally I like my groups 'salty' and yours - especially the MC* is wonderful. I would leave them be and swing mount versus court mount. Congratualtions on the reunite - that is a hard thing to achieve. Too bad about the star. https://www.dixonsmedals.co.uk/

[old owl]

TEW,

Yes, his MID should be signified by an oakleaf emblem worn on the ribbon of the Victory Medal.  You should be able to pick up one of these from a dealer such as Chris Dixon.

According to his MIC he is not entitled to a 1914 or 1914/15 Star--unless he has another card which shows this?

Robert

[ScottM]

Robert - I seem to recall, maybe erroneously, from the previous thread that he was entitled to a 14-15 Star - and yes those do sometimes turn up on speperate MIC's for random reasons I have yet to comprehend but I'm sure are laid out in Howard Williamsons's grand book on WW I medals. If I am wrong then all's the better - he had post war service and maybe entitled to other things. Maybe get his complete service record so that it can all be ordered out. BTW the WW I MID's looked different than WW 2, longer thinner, more leaves and more 'acanthusly' looking, the WW 2 ones are shorter, wider, fewer leaves and more of a chocolatey colour versus the WW 1 dark bronze finish.

[ATNOMIS]

Tew
Fantastic news. Medals home safe.

Simon

[TEW]

ScottM and oldowl

Funny you should describe the ‘salty’ look. I was trying to brush up on the jargon of medal parts and looking at various websites found a few explaining court and swing mounting and showing before and after photos of newly refurbished medals. Apart from the nice new ribbons I did think that in several examples I preferred the look of the medals before they were buffed up to an almost chrome looking finish. Nice patina and highlights showing all round.

GF’s Victory does have some spots of tarnishing but I’m led to believe over polishing will remove the gilt surface?

Sorry, seems to have been some confusion over the mentioned Star. An erroneous Star was added to the auction lot as was a cycling medallion, neither of the last two were his. I know he arrived in France in Jan’ 1917 so definitely no entitlement. The Star was named to Stewart, no number passed on to me.

I dug out various bits of paper yesterday and have included one here as it seems to be a citation of some sort although not dated or signed. The citation, if that’s what it is was attached to a newspaper cutting regarding the MC award. At present I’m assuming this ‘citation’ relates to the awarding of the MC ie the two actions that gave rise to the award.

NB date of Bullecourt incorrect in the paper cutting

Thanks again
TEW

[80th division]

Congratulations on the reunite and a tip of the hat to the person who bought the medals for assisting in getting them back into the family.

Several members have had success on this front in the last few weeks and that is good news for those still searching for family medals that reunites are possible.

Best wishes,

Joseph

[ScottM]

Hi,

well - whatever way you go it is all good news. As for the Victory medal - it is an oft repeated myth that they are 'gilt' it is a laquer dip over the medal which is a bronze alloy. These were made in the millions (as econimically as possible) and mass awarded, nobody was wasting gold on these. If you can live with it - leave it be, the laquer will come off and you'll get an odd irregular patination over time. Microcrystaline wax is ideal to preserve and protect them and will eliminate the need to ever do anything to them agian. It is comepletely reversable too and not harmful to the medals. You could put it on over the exisitng patination and preserve that look if you preferred to.