Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare Great War Gallipoli operations C.G.M. group of six awarded to 2nd Lieutenant F. Pilgrim, Royal Marines Light Infantry, attached Royal Naval Division and afterwards a Major in the Home Guard

Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, G.V.R. (PO. 846 S. Act. Cpl. F. Pilgrim, R.M., R.N.D., Gallipoli, 20 Nov. 1915); 1914-15 Star (PO. 846 -S. F. Pilgrim, L.Cpl., R.M.L.I.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (2 Lt. F. Pilgrim, R.M.L.I.); Defence Medal 1939-45; France, Croix de Guerre 1914-1917, with bronze palm, the fourth with officially re-impressed naming, good very fine (6) £9000-11000

Out of a total of 43 awards of the C.G.M. to the Royal Marines, just 15 were made in respect of the Great War.

C.G.M. London Gazette 31 May 1916:

‘On 20 November 1915, at Cape Helles, he threw a live Turkish grenade out of a trench and thereby avoided a dangerous accident.’

French Croix de Guerre London Gazette 19 December 1917. The original citation states:

‘On 10 November 1915 during the fighting at Cape Helles he threw a Turkish grenade out of a trench preventing the dangerous effects of an explosion.’

Mention in despatches London Gazette 13 July 1916:

‘For distinguished and gallant services rendered during the period of General Sir Charles Munro’s command of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force.’

Frank Pilgrim was born in Middlesborough, Yorkshire in August 1887, the son of a railway foreman. Enlisting in the Royal Marines Light Infantry at York in January 1915, he was embarked for Gallipoli in May 1915, where he landed as a reinforcement for the Royal Naval Division (R.N.D.) on the 15th, just in time to see action in the 2nd Battle of Krithia. Wounded in the right thigh by a shell splinter on 21 June, he was evacuated to Imbros but returned to the Peninsula a week or two later, when he joined the 2nd Royal Marine Battalion. No doubt a witness to the heavy fighting that followed in the second half of 1915, he was, as cited above, awarded the C.G.M. for his gallant act at Krithia Nullah in November.

Remaining a member of the 2nd R.M. Battalion after departing Gallipoli in January 1916, Pilgrim remained employed in the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force until May 1916, in which period he served in Salonika in support of the Greek Army. Next ordered to France, the 2nd Battalion formed part of 188th Brigade, 63rd Royal Naval Division, and participated in the bloody battles of Ancre, Cambrai, Gavrelle and Passchendaele.

In March 1918, Pilgrim was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, R.M., in the Chatham Division, and saw further action in the battles of St. Quentin, Bapaume and Aveluy Wood. During the German Spring Offensive the ranks of the 1st and 2nd R.M. Battalions were so depleted that the two units were amalgamated. Pilgrim was transferred to the home establishment, where he attended bombing and anti-gas courses in July and August.

Returning to France in late September 1918, he joined the 1st R.M. Battalion in time to participate in the final actions of the war, among them Canal du Nord, Cambrai and the pursuit of the enemy to Mons. He remained in France for much of the interim period, he was advanced to Lieutenant in March 1919 and demobilised that June.

Pilgrim returned to uniform in the 1939-45 War, when he was commissioned in the 4th North Riding (Quisborough) Battalion, Home Guard, attaining the rank of Major before the end of hostilities.

Sold with the recipient’s original French Minister of Marine’s official order citing the grenade incident at Cape Helles, dated 31 May 1917, together with his commission warrant for the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, R.M., dated 27 March 1918.