A Collection of Medals to the 43rd/52nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

A Great War D.C.M. group of seven awarded to Temporary Warrant Officer Class I T. A. Love, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, captured by the Turks at Kut-el-Amara, 29 April 1916, he commanded the men of the battalion as prisoners-of-war, being ‘vilified, insulted and reviled by the Turks’

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (5574 T.R.S. Mjr., 1/O. & B. L.I.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, Driefontein (557 Corl., Oxford. Lt. Infy.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps (5574 Corpl., Oxford. L.I.); 1914-15 Star (5574 C.Q.M. Sjt., Oxf. & Bucks. L.I.); British War and Victory Medals, small M.I.D. oak leaf (5574 T.W.O. Cl.1, Oxf. & Bucks. L.I.); Army L.S. & G.C., G.V.R.. 1st issue (5574 W.O. Cl.II, Oxf. & Bucks. L.I.), mounted as worn but 1914-15 Star detached, edge bruising, contact marks, worn (7) £3000-3500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the 43rd/52nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.

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D.C.M. London Gazette 12 December 1917 (No citation).

M.I.D. London Gazette 13 July 1916.

Thomas A. Love was born in Woking, Surrey. A Labourer by occupation, he attested for the Oxfordshire Light Infantry at Slough on 4 November 1897. With them he served in South Africa, December 1899-February 1902, and India, March-October 1902 and October 1907-December 1914. With the onset of war, he served with the 1st Battalion Oxf. & Bucks. L.I. in the Indian Expeditionary Force from 20 December 1914. Promoted to Company Quartermaster Sergeant in January 1915, he was appointed Temporary Regimental Sergeant-Major on 12 October 1915. The battalion formed part of Townsend’s besieged force at Kut-el-Amara and C.S.M. Love was captured upon the capitulation of Kut on 30 April 1916. With the officers separated from the other ranks, C.S.M. Love was placed in command of the 250 plus men of the battalion able to march into captivity. The captives, already weakened by disease, were then subjected to forced marches, starvation, beatings and indifference which was to cause untold deaths.

Captain Neville in his History of the 43rd and 52nd (Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire) Light Infantry in the Great War, 1914-1919, wrote, ‘Upon Regimental Sergeant-Major Love, D.C.M., descended the mantle of leadership, and, as ever in the history of the 43rd, this gallant warrant officer assumed it and all its responsibilities. Sick though he was, he never spared himself in his efforts to protect those in his charge. Quick to realise that the lives of his men depended on him, he enforced discipline and self-control with all the strength of his character and training at the cost of his popularity, ably supported in all his endeavours by Quartermaster Sergeant Burbidge, D.C.M., Sergeant Ward, D.C.M. and the non-commissioned officers. Vilified, insulted and reviled by the Turks, he never for one moment surrendered to the enemy, though their prisoner, nor gave up the unequal contest. His wholly admirable conduct under treatment which few Englishmen have ever been called upon to endure should be remembered by those who have the honour to serve in the 43rd as an example of leadership, courage and determination ...’ He remained a prisoner-of-war until 24 November 1918 when he was repatriated. For his services in the field between 5 October 1915 and 17 January 1916, Love was mentioned in despatches, and for these and services prior to the capitulation of Kut, he was awarded the D.C.M.

Of the estimated 308 rank and file members of the 43rd Regiment (1st O. & B. L.I.) and 77 reservists and others attached to the 43rd, present at the surrender of Kut on 29 April 1916, some 277 are believed to have died in Turkish captivity.

Sold with copied service papers, m.i.c. and other research. For his son’s medals, see Lot 1085.