Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Lieutenant A. E. H. D. Woollard, Army Service Corps, who was recommended for the Albert Medal for bravery in Guines, France on 13 November 1915

1914-15 Star (Lieut. A. E. H. D. Woollard) unit erased; British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. A. E. H. D. Woollard.); Society for the Protection of Life from Fire, 5th type, silver (Lieut. A. Deschamps Woollard, A.S.C. Guines Nov. 13th 1915) with silver riband buckle, good very fine and better (4) £200-£240

Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, December 2012.

Aubrey Ernest Herbert Deschamps Woollard was born in Richmond, Surrey, on 26 August 1884 and was educated at Wimborne, Paris and Shrewsbury, and was later employed as an Engineer living in New Zealand and Australia. He joined the Royal Field Artillery on 14 January 1901 at Newport, Monmouthshire, before transferring to the 137th Battery, Royal Field Artillery on 5 September 1901 for home service until his discharge on 17 January 1903, followed by seven years as a Trooper in the Legion of Frontiersmen. In September 1914 he enlisted at Sydney, New South Wales and served briefly with the 1st Australian Expeditionary Force. Being commissioned into Army Service Corps in May 1915, he arrived in France on 30 June 1915, and was promoted temporary Lieutenant on 1 August 1915.

On 13 November 1915 Lieutenant Woollard, A.S.C. and Lance-Corporal Albert C. Bird, A.S.C. performed a rescue which resulted in them being awarded the Society’s Silver Medal (Case No. 15,630) - both were recommended, unsuccessfully, for an Albert Medal:
‘On 13th November 1915, a French Fireman was saved from a fire in Guines, France, cause of the fire was unknown.’ (Saved from the Flames, by Roger Willoughby & John Wilson refers).

Corporal Bird was also awarded the Meritorious Service Medal (for Gallantry) with the 177th Company, Army Service Corps, which was formed in January 1915 as part of the 13th (Western) Division.