Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Lieutenant A. B. Hoy, Royal Scots, who witnessed heavy fighting at Gallipoli and later died of wounds received on the Western Front on 2 June 1918

1914-15 Star (1013 Sjt. A. Hoy. R. Scots.); British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. A. B. Hoy.) official correction to rank and first initial on VM, very fine (3) £120-£160

Andrew Burn Hoy was born in Edinburgh on 27 January 1894 and was educated at Cannonmills School. He attested at Glencourse Barracks for the 5th Battalion, Royal Scots Territorial Force, on 15 April 1909; initially posted on Scottish coastal defence duties, Hoy arrived at Alexandria on 2 April 1915, and subsequently landed with the 5th Battalion, Royal Scots, at ‘W’ Beach on the Gallipoli Peninsula on 25 April 1915.

Landing largely unopposed, two companies of the 5th Royal Scots determined to move inland in an attempt to capture the high ground of Achi Baba, but the attack failed and the British were forced to dig trenches and hold ground against repeated Turkish counter attacks. Furnished to full strength, the 5th Battalion attempted a fresh assault on Achi Baba on the night of 7-8 May 1915. It proved a failure, the men gaining only a few hundred yards of machine-gun swept barren hillside. In less then two weeks, nine officers were killed and thirteen wounded, an attrition rate amongst the ‘first day landers’ of around 80%. Admitted to hospital suffering from sleeplessness on 27 May 1915, Hoy was raised Colour Sergeant Major on 29 June 1915, and rejoined his unit in Gallipoli on 7 August 1915.

Evacuated home to Britain at the cessation of the campaign, Hoy returned to active service on the Western Front and is recorded as suffering from trench fever in the aftermath of the Battle of the Somme. Appointed to a commission with the 1/4th (Reserve) Battalion, Royal Scots, on 26 July 1917, Hoy died of wounds received in action at No. 57 Casualty Clearing Station on 2 June 1918.

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