A Great War M.M. group of four awarded to Company Sergeant Major R. Pacey, 7th (Service) Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, a veteran of the Boer War who died of wounds received at the First Battle of Passchendaele on 12 October 1917

Military Medal G.V.R. (7-9463 Sjt: R. Pacey. 7/Linc: R.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Transvaal, South Africa 1902 (5307 Pte. R. Pacey. Lincoln: Regt.) British War and Victory Medals (9463 W.O. Cl. 2. R. Pacey. Linc. R.) edge bruise to Q.S.A. otherwise slightly toned and generally good very fine (4) £300-£400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Great War Military Medals to the Lincolnshire Regiment.

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M.M. London Gazette 11 October 1916

Richard Pacey was born in 1881 at Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire and attested for the Lincolnshire Regiment at Grantham on 22 March 1899. He was posted to the 2nd Battalion and served abroad briefly in Gibraltar in 1901 and then in South Africa from April to December 1902 (medal and two clasps). On 16 December 1902 he transferred to the 1st Battalion and sailed directly to India where he was stationed continuously until 1 May 1907. He was discharged on 21 March 1911 having completed 12 years service and found employment coaling locomotive fenders for the Great Northern Railway. After the outbreak of the Great War he enlisted in his former regiment at Nottingham and the following year was posted to France with the 7th (Service) Battalion, arriving on 14 July 1915. On 8 August 1916, while serving with D Company at Delville Wood, he was admitted to the 51st Field Ambulance with shrapnel wounds to his back and right hand following a phosphorous shell bombardment which killed or wounded half the Company. The Regimental History provides details:
‘At 4.30pm on the 7th, the battalion moved up to support the Sherwood Foresters, who were in Longueval and Delville Wood. Four hours later D Company, under Captain S. Clarke, moved up in close support of the Foresters in Longueval. At dawn D Company in Longueval village were subjected to a violent bombardment, which lasted an hour; by the end of it D Company had ninety casualties, about half the strength of the company. The Germans used phosphorous shells which caused fire amongst the debris and some men were set alight.’ (The History of the Lincolnshire Regiment 1914-1918 by Major-General C. R. Simpson, C.B. refers.)
The 11 October 1916 London Gazette carrying his M.M. announcement principally contains awards for the Somme operations of mid-July onwards including Longueval and Delville Wood, the long drawn out struggle for possession of which was the 7th Battalion’s only engagement of the period.

Promoted C.S.M. in February 1917, Pacey died on 12 October 1917 from gun-shot wounds to the chest which penetrated his back, received the same day during the 7th Battalion’s successful attack at Taube Farm during the first Battle of Passchendaele. The regimental history documents the attack:
‘On the night of the 10th/11th of October, the 7th Battalion took over the front line astride the railway just south of the Poelcapelle road…at zero hour on the 12th the Lincolnshire were assembled on a line from south of the railway to the road junction below Tranquille House…At 5.25am, the barrage fell, and eight minutes later the attacking companies advanced. At 6.50am the first objective was reported taken, though casualties were fairly heavy. Captain Tredinnick was wounded and command of his company was taken over by 2nd Lieutenant Harrison. The records state that the men advanced behind the barrage with perfect confidence in the screen of fire in front of them. At 7am Major Peddie moved his headquarters up to Taube Farm, the attack having gone forward to the second objective, which was reported captured at 8am.’ (The History of the Lincolnshire Regiment 1914-1918 by Major-General C. R. Simpson, C.B. refers.)
He is buried in Dozinghem Military Cemetery, Belgium.

Sold with a 7th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment 1916 Christmas Card listing the honours awarded to the regiment up to September 1916 (including the recipient’s M.M.).