Four: Captain B.S. Bland, 1/5th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, who was Second in Command of the Battalion for the 1st Day of the Battle of the Somme
1914-15 Star (Capt: B. S. Bland. W. York: R.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. B. S. Bland.); Coronation 1937, generally very fine or better

Three: Lieutenant H. Whitham, 1/7th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, who was severely wounded on the Somme, 14 July 1916
1914-15 Star (2. Lieut. H. Whitham. W. York. R.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. H. Whitham.) all post 1921 issues, BWM officially renamed, generally good very fine (3) £180-220

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the West Yorkshire (14th Foot) and Yorkshire (19th Foot) Regiments.

View
Collection

Barnet Swinton Bland was born in West Buckland, Devon, in 1891. He was the son of Charles Bland, Headmaster of Ripon Grammar School. He served during the Great War with the 1/5th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, in the French theatre of war, from 15 April 1915. Mentioned several times in Battalion’s War Diaries, Bland was Second in Command of the 1/5th for the 1st Day of the Battle of the Somme, where they assembled in positions in Thiepval Wood and were ordered up to assist the 36th (Ulster Division) at the Schwaben Redoubt. The Battalion withdrew to Aveluy Wood the following day. Bland was appointed ‘C’ Company Commander in May 1917.

Henry Whitham was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, in 1895. He was educated at Leeds Central High School, and was studying at Leeds University at the outbreak of the Great War. He served in the Leeds University Officer Training Corps, and applied for a commission in 1/7th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment in August 1915. He served as a Lieutenant with the 1/7th in the French theatre of war, from 27 December 1915. He received gunshot wounds to both legs and his right hand on 14 July 1916. On the latter date the Battalion were engaged in an unsuccessful attack as part of the 49th (West Riding) Division on the Somme. Whitham was still alive in 1989, aged 94, and residing in Scarcroft, Leeds.

Sold with the following documents relating to H. Whitham: a letter written in French, with envelope addressed to ‘2nd Lieut. H. Whitham, B Company 1/7 West York. Regt. B.E.F. (France)’, from recipient’s French sweetheart, dated ‘25 June 1916, Flixecourt, Somme’; portrait photograph of recipient in uniform, photograph of ‘B’ Company, 1/5th Battalion; named invitation to a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace for The “Not Forgotten’ Association, to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Somme; other ephemera relating to the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, and a newspaper cutting with an article relating to the recipient.