Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Sergeant W. A. Faux, Gloucestershire Regiment, who was Mentioned in Despatches, and died of wounds on the Western Front on 15 October 1917

1914-15 Star (478 Pte. W. A. Faux. Glouc: R.); British War and Victory Medals (478 A.W.O. Cl.2 W. A. Faux. Glouc. R.); Memorial Plaque (William Albert Faux) in card envelope, extremely fine (4) £140-£180

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to Great War Casualties.

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Provenance: Acquired by the vendor directly from the recipient’s family.

William Albert Faux was born in Bristol and attested there for the Gloucestershire Regiment. He served with the 1st/6th Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 31 March 1915. He was promoted Sergeant in early 1916, and then Acting Company Sergeant Major in February 1917, and was Mentioned in Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatch of 2 April 1917 (London Gazette 22 May 1917). Invalided suffering from shell-shock after the attack on Pozieres, he quickly resumed his duties at the front line, and was severely wounded at the Battle of Passchendaele on 9 October 1917, which resulted in his right leg being amputated. It was complications from this wound that led to his death in Boulogne Hospital on 15 October 1917, and he is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, France. A letter written to the recipient’s mother from his Captain states:
‘Your son was a very fine N.C.O., one of the best in the battalion. If any soldier is fated to die out here, he would wish to die as your son did, at the head of his men, in the hour of victory, leaving behind a name that will be remembered and respected in years to come by all who knew him.’

Sold with the recipient’s original M.I.D. Certificate, this named to ‘Gloucestershire Regiment, No. 265019 Serjt. W. A. Vaux [sic] 1/6th Bn. (T.F.)’, this housed in a glazed display frame; named Record Office enclosures for all three medals; a postcard photograph of the recipient; and copied research, including various newspaper cuttings.