Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War 1917 ‘Western Front’ M.C. group of four awarded to Captain J. Walker, Royal Warwickshire Regiment

Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (2. Lieut. J. Walker. R. War. R.); British War and Victory Medals, with slightly damaged M.I.D. oak leaves (Capt. J. Walker.) good very fine (4) £700-£900

M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1917.

M.I.D. London Gazette 8 July 1919.

Jeffrey Walker resided at Chad House, Edgbaston, Birmingham. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 1/6th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment in October 1914. Walker served with the Battalion in the French theatre of war from 23 March 1915. Advancing to Captain, Walker subsequently served on attachment to HQ 143rd Infantry Brigade as Officer Commanding Grenade School and Brigade Bomb Officer (November 1915 – November 1916), on attachment to 48th Division, eventually as Divisional Bomb Officer (November 1916 – January 1917), as an Intelligence Officer attached to 143rd Infantry Brigade (January 1917 onwards) on the Western Front and in Italy (December 1917 – April 1918), and as a GSO3 on the Western Front attached principally to 33rd Division (April – October 1918) and to 100th Infantry Brigade (October 1918 – January 1919).

The Imperial War Museum holds a detailed archive of material relating to him, including over 200 letters written to his family, with outstanding detail concerning conditions in the front line, trench construction, technical specifications of arms, armaments and equipment, including his own innovations, forthright criticism of the calibre of officers and senior commanders in the British Army and of poor staff work and the unmodernised nature of the Army. The letters also contain good descriptions of the Battle of the Somme, the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, the 3rd Battle of Ypres (1917), conditions on the Italian Front (December 1917 – April 1918) and the commemoration of war dead (November 1918).