Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War M.M. group of three awarded to Private W. Alton, 10th (Service) Battalion Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment, killed in action 11 June 1918

Military Medal, G.V.R. 19744 Pte., 10/N. & D.R.); British War and Victory Medals (19744 Pte., Notts. & Derby. R.); Memorial Plaque (William Alton) good very fine (4) £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A fine Collection of Medals to the Sherwood Foresters.

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M.M. London Gazette 18 October 1917.

Citation: ‘For gallantry and devotion to duty near Plouvain, on 5th August 1917, when taking part in a patrol which entered the enemy trenches in order to secure identification of the enemy.’ (ref. British Gallantry Awards, The Sherwood Foresters, compiled by C. Housley).

William Alton was born in Codnor, Derbyshire c.1892. A Coal Miner by occupation, he enlisted into the Sherwood Foresters at Chesterfield. With the 10th Battalion he entered France on 29 June 1915. With them he was awarded the M.M. for his gallantry in action on 5 August 1917. In the Red Cross Enquiry Lists, 1 December 1918, Alton is listed as missing on 11 June 1918. The Eastwood & Kimberley Advertiser, 6 December 1918, states that Private William Alton was posted missing after the attack on Gauche Wood on 18 September 1918 and that it was later established that he had been killed and his body laid to rest near Villers Guislain. The C.W.G.C. lists Alton as having died on 11 June 1918, aged 22 years, and that having no known grave, his name is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial. He was the husband of Mary Benon (formerly Alton), of Ringwood Terrace, New Tupton, Chesterfield.

With copied research.