A Canadian Memorial Cross awarded in remembrance of Private W. Mason, 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles, who was killed in action at battle of Regina Trench on the Somme on 2 October 1916

Canadian Memorial Cross, G.V.R., the reverse officially inscribed, ‘467676 Pte. W. Mason’, good very fine £100-150

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Fine Collection of Awards to the Canadian Forces.

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James Welch, who served under the alias of Walter Mason, was born in Barrow-in-Furness, England, on 28 October 1883. A Handyman by occupation and a former member of the King’s Own Volunteers in England, he enlisted into the 23rd Battalion at Montreal in June 1915. Having then transferred to the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles, he was posted ‘missing in action’, later as killed, on 2 October 1916, during the battle of Regina Trench. Having no known grave, his name is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial. He was the son of Stephen and Catherine Welch; sold with copied service papers.