Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Lieutenant W. S. Bird, 2nd Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, who was killed in the attack near Rue de Bois during the battle of Aubers Ridge on 9 May 1915

1914-15 Star (Lieut. W. S. Bird, K.R. Rif. C.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. W. S. Bird.); Memorial Plaque (Wilfred Stanley Bird) all mounted in a contemporary glazed display frame, extremely fine (4) £300-£400

Wilfred Stanley Bird was born on 28 September 1883, the son of Rev. Bird M.A. at Yiewsley Vicarage, Middlesex. He was educated at The Grange, Eastbourne, where he was captain of the cricket and football elevens and afterwards at Malvern College where he represented the school at cricket, football and fives.

He was in the Malvern eleven in 1900-02, among his contemporaries being A. P. Day and G. N. Foster. Going up to Oxford with good credentials as a wicket-keeper he would in the ordinary course of events have stepped straight into the eleven, but Oxford in 1903 had a wicket-keeper of established reputation in W. Findlay. He was awarded his Blue and kept wicket for Oxford in 1904-06, being captain of the eleven his last year.

He kept wicket for the Gentlemen at Lord's in 1908 and 1912, played a number of times for Middlesex 1905-08 and likewise for the M.C.C. 1907-13. He was also played against the touring South Africans in 1905 and the Australians in 1906. However, his skill was, perhaps, never seen to better advantage than when keeping to D. W. Carr's googlies at Scarborough in 1909. As a batsman he was only moderate, but he helped the late W. H. B. Evans to save the University match in 1904. He had been a member of the M.C.C. since 1905.
He was, from 1906, employed as a master at Ludgrove School where he was a member of the O.T.C.

On the outbreak of war with Germany, he volunteered his services and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, 6th (Reserve) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps on 29 December 1914, and subsequently attached to the 2nd Battalion, which he joined at the front on 10 April 1915. He was killed in action on 9 May 1915, shot through the heart while leading his platoon into action at Rue de Bois during the battle of Aubers Ridge. His Commanding Officer wrote of him:- “Lieut. Bird was a splendid fellow and a very promising officer. He was very popular with us all, and I am more than sorry to lose him.” Lieutenant Bird has no known grave and is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial, France.