Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War M.M. group of three awarded to Sergeant B. Hill (alias J. H. Jackson), 47th (Western Ontario) Battalion, Canadian Infantry, who was killed by a sniper’s bullet at the Battle of the Selle in October 1918

Military Medal, G.V.R. (2025225 Cpl. B. Hill, 47/W. Ont. R.); British War and Victory Medals (2025225 Sjt. B. Hill, 47-Can. Inf.), rank and name re-impressed on the first, probably replacing the original ‘J. H. Jackson’, good very fine and better (3) £220-260

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

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M.M. London Gazette 11 February 1919.

Benjamin Hill was born in Birmingham, Staffordshire, on 16 November 1895. Living in Victoria, British Columbia and employed as a Fitter and Turner, he enlisted into the 50th (Calgary) Battalion at Victoria in May 1917 - using the alias ‘John Henry Jackson’. Hill arrived in England in June 1917 aboard the S.S. Olympic and was transferred to the 16th Reserve Battalion and thence the 47th (Western Ontario) Battalion and entered France on 18 October 1917. Having then officially acknowledged that he had enlisted under an alias in March 1918, and that his true name was Benjamin Hill, he was killed in action at the Battle of the Selle on 20 October 1918. His bravery in action during that battle also earned him a posthumous M.M. and promotion to Sergeant, official records stating:

‘He was in charge of the Lewis Gun Section of ‘D’ Company during operations in the vicinity of Wavrechain on the morning of 20 October 1918, and while pushing forward with his Section on the outskirts of Demain he was hit and instantly killed by a bullet from an enemy sniper’s rifle.’

Aged 21 at the time of his death, Hill was buried in the Denain Communal Cemetery. He was the son of Mr. J. H. and Mrs. H. E. Hill, of 92 Wattville Road, Handsworth, Birmingham; sold with copied service papers.