The Jack Webb Collection of Medals and Militaria

Pair: Private W. D. French, Middlesex Regiment, who was being conveyed in the Troopship S.S. Tyndareus when she was mined off Cape Town on 6 February 1917
British War and Victory Medals (G-39664 Pte. W. D. French. Midd’x R.) traces of lacquer, nearly extremely fine

Pair: Private H. J. Hawkes, Middlesex Regiment, who was being conveyed in the Troopship S.S. Tyndareus when she was mined off Cape Town on 6 February 1917
British War and Victory Medals (G-39611 Pte. H. J. Hawkes. Midd’x R.) in named card boxes of issue, with outer envelopes addressed to ‘Mr. H. J. Hawles, Swanton Abbott, Norwich’, extremely fine

British War Medal 1914-20 (G-49368 Pte. H. S. Hambling. Midd’x R.) nearly extremely fine (5) £160-£200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Jack Webb Collection of Medals and Militaria.

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Walter D. French, Harry J. Hawkes, and Herbert S. Hambling all attested for the Middlesex Regiment and were all posted to the 25th Battalion. They all embarked for the Far East in early 1917, and were being conveyed in the Transport Ship S.S. Tyndareus when she was mined off Cape L’Agulhas, about 108 miles south-east of Cape Town, on 6 February 1917. She immediately went down at the bows and was in imminent danger of sinking. One newspaper correspondent reported that the mine ‘shook the transport from stem to stern’, and that the assembly was immediately sounded: ‘And the troops, each man wearing a life belt, lined the decks in perfect order. The ship was settling down by the head with the propellers hanging out of the water, and it appeared almost certain that the vessel would sink before assistance could reach her, but, though they must have realised their imminent peril, the demeanour of the men suggested, not that they were facing death, but that they were parading for long leave.’

The Battalion's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel John Ward, a Labour Party M.P. and trade union leader, then addressed the assembled Battalion:
‘Officers and Men of the 25th. You have now the supreme test of your lives, the one moment we all ought to have lived for. Remember that you are Englishmen. All the best traditions of our country and race are in your keeping. You are members of one of the most famous regiments in the British Army Pray God you do not act to sully its honour. Obey orders and we may be able to save you all; but if we cannot, then let us finish like English gentlemen.’

Approximately an hour after the explosion the Eumaeus, a converted hospital ship, answered Tyndareus’s S.O.S. radio signal and arrived on the scene. There then remained the dangerous task of conveying the troops through a heavy sea in an agonising race against the clock, for each lifeboat could only hold fifty men, and nobody could tell at what stage the Tyndareus might suddenly sink. Fortunately it was summer at the Cape, and the light remained good until quite late, and then a nearly full moon greatly facilitated the rescue work. In the end the entire Battalion was saved, and conveyed to Simonstown the following day.

On 10 February, in a message to the Commanding Officer, H.M. the King commended the embarked troops for their discipline and courage which ‘worthily upheld the splendid tradition of the Birkenhead, ever cherished in the annals of the British Army’.

Sold with Private Hawkes’ Honourable Discharge certificate; a group photograph of No. 24 Platoon, “D” Company; an individual portrait photograph of Private French; and copied research including the Battalion Roll Call.