Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Private H. Brooke, 5th (Service) Battalion, Connaught Rangers, who died of wounds on 10 October 1918 

1914-15 Star (5512 Pte. H. Brooke. Conn: Rang:); British War and Victory Medals (5512 Pte. H. Brooke. Conn. Rang.) good very fine (3) £160-£200

Harry Brooke was born on 3 August 1897 at Methley, the son of miner Isaiah Brooke of 158 Glebe Street, Castleford, Yorkshire. He attested at Castleford for the 5th Connaught Rangers and embarked at Devonport for Mudros on 9 July 1915. Transferred from base camp to the Peninsula 24 September 1915, he likely saw further service with the Regiment in Salonika and Egypt in 1917; the 5th Battalion were heavily engaged in the third Allied attempt to take the fortified towns of Beersheba and Gaza in an effort to break into Palestine from Sinai. Embarked at Port Said for Marseilles 25 May 1918, the Battalion took part in two major actions on the Western Front in the late autumn of 1918, at Serain and Le Cateau. Engaged in the vicious fighting for control of Le Cateau village from 8 October 1918, Brooke died of his wounds a couple of days later. He has no known grave and is commemorated upon the Vis-en-Artois Memorial, France.