An impressive and early Great War D.C.M. group of twelve awarded to Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel and Quarter-Master F. Snow, Manchester Regiment

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (888 C.S. Mjr. F. Snow, 2/Manch. R.); 1914 Star, with copy clasp (888 Sjt., 2/Manch. R.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (888 W.O. Cl. 1, Manch. R.); General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Iraq (888 W.O. Cl. 1, Manch. R.); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Burma 1930-32 (Lieut., D.C.M., Manch. R.); Defence and War Medals; Jubilee 1935, privately inscribed, ‘Lieut. F. Snow, D.C.M., Manch. Regiment’; Coronation 1937, privately inscribed, ‘Capt. F. Snow, D.C.M., Manch. R.’; Army L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (3512219 W.O. Cl. 1, (D.C.M.), Manch. R.); Army Meritorious Service Medal, G.V.R. (888 C.S. Mjr., A.R.S. Mjr., D.C.M., 2 Manch. R.), the earlier awards with contact wear, edge bruising and polished, good fine, the remainder generally very fine or better (12) £1800-2200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Meritorious Service Medal Groups from the Collection of Ian McInnes.

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Collection

Ex Fevyer Collection (Spink, November 1998, Lot 1192).

D.C.M. London Gazette 14 January 1916:

‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He, with great bravery and determination, carried a wounded man to a place of safety under heavy shell fire.’

Frederick Snow, who was born in Dumfries in March 1888, originally enlisted in the Scots Guards, but transferred to the Manchester Regiment in 1913. Posted to the 2nd Battalion that October, in the rank of Lance-Sergeant, he was embarked for France on 15 August 1914, where he fought in the retreat from Mons - the 2nd Manchesters sustained around 225 casualties at Les Trois Maisons on 20 October and fought with distinction at Festubert on the 29th, winning two Victoria Crosses. For his own part, Snow was twice mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 17 February 1915 and 22 June 1915), in addition to adding the D.C.M. to his accolades for rescuing a wounded comrade under fire later in the same year. Indeed he remained on active service in France and Flanders for the remainder of the War, sharing in the Battalion’s many battle honours - the “Somme 1916” and “St. Quentin Canal 1918” among them - and was advanced to Company Sergeant-Major in March 1915 and to Regimental Sergeant-Major in June 1918. An immediate M.S.M. followed, about the time the Battalion was based in Tipperary, ‘sparring with the Sinn Feiners’ (London Gazette 18 January 1919 refers).

The 2nd Manchesters were next ordered to Iraq, where, on 20 July 1920, near Hillah, they suffered serious casualties - namely four officers and 137 men killed, 60 wounded and 76 taken prisoner by the Arabs. The Battlion also added another V.C. to its accolades, namely the posthumous award granted to Captain G. S. Henderson, D.S.O., who led three bayonet charges on the same occasion.

In December 1920, the Battalion was embarked for India, where it remained stationed for the next 12 years, a period that witnessed it being sent to Nagpur on two occasions ‘in aid of the Civil Power’ and participating in the Burma operations of 1930-32. In the interim, Snow won assorted revolver championship cups and was commissioned as a Lieutenant and Quarter-Master in June 1927.

Having risen to Major and Quarter-Master by the eve of hostilities in 1939, Snow served at the Regimental Depot at Ashton under Lyne until November 1944, when he was placed on the Retired List in the rank of Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel. He died in 1961.