A Great War ‘Bullecourt’ M.C. group of three awarded to Captain J. A. Fergusson, 9th and 2nd Battalions, Devonshire Regiment, who was wounded, captured, and taken Prisoner of War during the Battalion’s epic rear-guard action at Bois de Buttes on 27 May 1918

Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; British War and Victory Medals (Capt. J. A. Fergusson.) mounted for wear, very fine (3) £600-£800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Peter and Dee Helmore.

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M.C. London Gazette 16 August 1917
‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion. He led his company, under heavy shelling, to the objective, being left without any officers, but by coolness and courageous example he kept the men well in hand, and greatly assisted in the consolidation of the position’.
Annotated Gazette states: ‘Bullecourt: 7 May 1917’.

John Andrew Fergusson was born in Tranmere, Birkenhead in 1889. A Bank Clerk by occupation he attested at Liverpool as a Private in the King’s (Liverpool) Regiment for the duration of the War on 2 September 1914 and joined the 17th Battalion at Grantham. Commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Devonshire Regiment on 8 September 1915 he joined the 9th Battalion at Rouen on 23 September 1916. Appointed Acting Captain whilst commanding a Company on 5 October 1916 he was wounded (Bomb Blast) in action at Le Touquet Trenches, east of Etaples, on 26 October 1916, and was awarded the Military Cross whilst leading No. 4 Company in attack on Bullecourt 7 May 1917.

Posted to the 2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment at Romain on 10 May 191, he served in command of ‘B’ Company in action at Bois de Buttes near Pontavert on 27 May 1918, with orders to hold the line to the last. 23 officers and 528 men reported as killed or missing; the 2nd Battalion was cited in the French Orders of the Day and was collectively awarded the Croix de Guerre, honours which the battalion was the first British unit to receive. Fergusson’s statement on release reads ‘Whilst in command B Coy 2nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment having been wounded in head and shoulder by machine gun bullets. Held on for about 3 hours against enemy attack in large numbers, despite heavy casualties, when ordered to move to a new position near the river Aisne. Picked up by a German mopping-up party’.

Fergusson was subsequently held in Alten-Grabow, Saxony P.O.W. Camp before being repatriated as wounded on 15 December 1918. He relinquished his commission on 17 April 1919 and returned to his banking career with Westminster Bank Ltd. Appointed Chief Clerk, Hull Branch, he was promoted to Manager, Darlington Branch in 1927. Unfortunately, his Great War experiences remained with him and he shot himself with his service revolver whilst at his office desk on 1 October 1930, aged 41, during a temporary loss of reason.

Sold with extensive copied research.