Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Captain C. J. Temperley, Royal Air Force, late Northern Cyclist Battalion and Royal Flying Corps, who was wounded in aerial combat on 28 October 1917, while piloting an S.E. 5 of 60 Squadron

British War and Victory Medals (Capt. C. J. Temperley. R.A.F.); Territorial Force War Medal 1914-19 (Capt. C. J. Temperley. N. Cyc. Bn.) housed in a contemporary glazed display frame with free standing mount to reverse, extremely fine (3) £700-£900

Dix Noonan Webb, March 2008.

Clifford James Temperley was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 20 June 1894 and served pre-War as a Gunner in the 55th Sunderland Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, and then as a Lance-Corporal in the Northern Cyclist Battalion. Following the outbreak of the Great War he was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Northern Cyclist Battalion on 25 November 1914, before undergoing pilot training at the Military School at Farnborough, receiving his “Wings” in June 1915 (Certificate No. 1367). Officially seconded to the Royal Flying Corps on 27 August 1915, he joined 15 Squadron at Dover and remained employed on the Home Establishment for the next two years.

Promoted temporary Captain and appointed a Flight Commander on 27 August 1917, Temperley was posted to the Western Front on 29 September 1917, joining 60 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, an S.E. 5 unit operating out of St. Marie Cappel, which included by Billy Bishop and Albert Ball within its ranks. It was intended that Temperley take up appointment as a Flight Commander, but in lieu of his lack of experience in Scouts in France, the Squadron C.O. vetoed the idea. As it transpired, Temperley was downed just a few days later, on 28 October 1917, on what was his first operational patrol, when he was wounded in the foot in a combat near Vlamertinger and forced to crash land near Poperinghe. Invalided home, he did not return to duty until April 1918, with an appointment at the Air Ministry, following which he served as a Staff Officer until the end of hostilities. He was placed on the Unemployed List in January 1919, and died in 1939.

Sold with the recipient’s Great War photograph album, containing approximately 25 images of fellow pilots, aircraft and ‘prangs’; a fine-quality studio portrait photograph of the recipient in uniform, in a contemporary glazed frame; and copied research.