Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War M.C. group of five awarded to Major C. H. Hutchinson, Lincolnshire Regiment, later Royal Tank Corps, who was wounded at the Aisne on 14 September 1914 and was Mentioned in Despatches.

Military Cross, G.V.R., the reverse privately engraved ‘Captn. Clive Hutchinson, 1st. Battn. Lincolnshire Regt., Jany. 14th. 1916.’; 1914 Star, with clasp (2. Lieut: C. Hutchinson. Linc: R.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Capt. C. Hutchinson.); War Medal 1939-45, good very fine (5) £1,000-£1,400

M.C. London Gazette 14 January 1916.

M.I.D. London Gazette 1 January 1916.

Clive Hutchinson was born at Sculcoates in the East Riding of Yorkshire on 20 March 1893. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Lincolnshire Regiment on 3 September 1913 and landed in France with the 1st Battalion on 13 August 1914. He was wounded by shell-fire, together with Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, the Battalion C.O., in the fierce fighting at the Aisne on 14 September 1914, a day which saw the 1st Battalion lose 8 officers and 180 other ranks killed or wounded. Hutchinson is mentioned in the regimental history’s account of this action:
‘No sooner had the retirement begun than the enemy rushed a machine gun into a wheat stack not more than fifty yards away, whilst his infantry swarmed on to the ridge, which bent round the flank, and opened a destructive fire as the Lincolnshire fell back across the greasy beet field. At the bottom of the ravine Colonel Smith rallied the troops, amongst whom were some Royal Scots Fusiliers, and then, as Vailly offered no defensive position, he moved back across the river to a railway cutting on the opposite side. So, over the railway bridge (now partially repaired and having planks across its gaps), the Lincolnshire retired to the cutting. But here further casualties were suffered from enemy shell-fire, including the Commanding Officer, Lieut.-Colonel Smith and the Adjutant, Lieutenant Hutchinson, though both gallantly continued to carry on.’ (The History of the Lincolnshire Regiment 1914-1918, by Major-General C. R. Simpson, C.B. refers.)

Hutchinson was advanced Lieutenant on 27 April 1915 (antedated 11 September 1914), temporary Captain on 17 June 1915, and Captain on 24 April 1916. He served with the Regiment in Gallipoli from 1 December 1915 to 9 January 1917, and then in Egypt with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force until 1 July 1916. Appointed Adjutant of the 6th (Service) Battalion on 9 April 1916, he returned to France on 8 July 1916, and saw further service during the Battle of the Somme.

After the Great War he spent a year as an Officer in Command of Gentleman Cadets at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst before being attached to the General Staff in the rank of temporary Major. He transferred to the Royal Tank Corps on 10 November 1923 and saw advancement to Major on 1 October 1927. He retired on 1 March 1936 and ceased to belong to the Reserve of Officers on account of ill-health on 15 November 1939.