Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Private W. S. Blood, 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), who was killed in action during the First Battle of Ypres on 11 November 1914

1914 Star, with copy clasp (14576 Pte. W. Blood. 4/ R. Fus.); British War and Victory Medals (L-14576 Pte. W. S. Blood R. Fus.); Memorial Plaque (Warwick Spencer Blood) minor spots of verdigris otherwise good very fine or better (4) £260-£300

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Barry Hobbs Collection of Great War Medals.

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Warwick Spencer Blood was born in 1894 at Marylebone and was a resident of Kensington. He attested for the Royal Fusiliers in 1911 at Hownslow and following the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 he landed with the 4th Battalion at Le Havre on 13 August for service on the Western Front. His battalion, as part of the 9th Brigade in the 3rd Division with Smith Dorrien’s II Corps, was among the first to arrive in France, and proceeded directly to Mons where, together with the 4th Middlesex, they faced the first German attacks and could count among their number Lieutenant M. Dease and Private S. F. Godley who were awarded the first V.C.s of the Great War for their defence of Y Company HQ at the Nimy railway bridge on 23 August 1914.

Private Blood was killed in action with the 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers on 11 November 1914 during the First Battle of Ypres. On this date his battalion was at Herenthage Wood with Zouaves on their left and the Northumberland Fusiliers on their right:
‘On the 11th came the last attempt of the Germans to cut through to the coast. The attack was expected; the battalion order issued before it took place is notable. The order, which was to be read to companies, ran as follows:—
“It may be assumed that we are about to fight the decisive battle of the war. The German Emperor has arrived to command his troops in person, and Sir John French hopes that the British Army will prove to him that they are better men than the Germans. Both armies are composed of regiments more or less exhausted, and short of officers, and the result will depend very much on the prolonged energy of every soldier in the fight and the endurance shown during the next few days. Fire must be carefully controlled at night, men must assist to the last, be ready to cover every movement with fire, well aimed and well sustained, and there must be no straggling or straying from the platoons to which men belong. The C.O. hopes that every man will sustain the great reputation that the Royal Fusiliers have already made during this war.
(Signed) G. O’Donel, Captain and Adjutant.”

The morning dawned dull and misty, and about 6.30 a terrible shelling began, “much the most severe I (O’Donel) have ever seen.” It continued for two and a half hours. The front trenches were knocked to pieces, and many of the men were killed or buried. Routley, in command, tried to send back a report of the plight of his men, but it was impossible to live in such a bombardment. Then followed the infantry attack by the twelve battalions of the Guard Division. The 4th (Queen Augusta’s) Guard Grenadiers seem to have struck the Royal Fusiliers, and the little band of men received the first assault with the bayonet and hurled it back. Routley, about this time, was the only officer left, and he was wounded in the head. The Grenadiers delivered a second charge. Some of the men were driven from their trenches, and their appearance in the rear created a panic among the battalion supports, who appear to have been chiefly special reservists, a draft who arrived on the day before the battle and had not yet been organised into their platoons. Colonel McMahon went to them and tried to rally them. Suddenly he was seen to sink on one knee and begin to remove his legging as though hit in the leg. At that moment a shell burst close to him and killed him. He was a most gallant and distinguished officer, who impressed all who came into contact with him. “ A Royal Fusilier,” he said to the battalion on the eve of embarkation, "does not fear death. He is not afraid of wounds. He only fears disgrace; and I look to you not to disgrace the name of the regiment.” Not merely the battalion and the regiment, but the army as a whole, lost by his death.

Part of the West Ridings had also been driven from their trenches, but a determined counter-attack on both sides of the Ypres-Menin road by the Sussex and Scots Fusiliers drove the German Guard back with heavy loss and partly restored the line. At 1:00 p.m. the remainder of the Royal Fusiliers were very much disorganised and scattered. In the evening only O’Donel and Second Lieutenant Maclean, with 50 men, could be collected.’ (The Royal Fusiliers in the Great War by H. C. O’Neill, O.B.E. refers)

Private F. Gaunt of the 4th Fusiliers also spoke of the bombardment of the 11th November in his personal first hand record of the first hundred days of the Great War:
‘On Wednesday, the 11th, we were heavily bombarded by artillery, which started at daybreak (6 am) and continued right up to 11 o’clock without a stop. During this time my Commanding Officer, Brigadier-General MacMahon, D.S.O., was struck by two pieces of shrapnel on the head and killed. His last words were: ‘Don’t retire the Fusiliers!”
About 9 am I was sitting down in the trench enjoying a bit of bread and Tickler’s plum jam, when I got struck by a piece of shrapnel close to the spine; but I could not get out of the trench, owing to it being shelled too heavily. About one hour afterwards a shell burst close to me, and I felt something burst in my ear, which I found out was the drum of the ear.
At 11am the shells stopped, and then I was able to get out of the trench and have my wound dressed at the first dressing station, which was about two miles away; after that I had to walk four miles to the hospital, the road being heavily shelled while I was dragging along.’ (The Immortal First by F. Gaunt. refers)

Warwick Spencer Blood was the son of James Warwick Blood and Clara Blood and having no known grave is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.