A Small Collection of Great War Medals to the Royal Sussex Regiment

Pair: Private G. T. Field, 13th (3rd South Downs) Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, who was taken Prisoner of War, and died in captivity on 21 May 1918
British War and Victory Medals (SD-1321 Pte. G. T. Field. R. Suss. R.) very fine

Pair: Private A. Kimmins, 13th (3rd South Downs) Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment
British War and Victory Medals (SD-3615 Pte. A. Kimmins. R. Suss. R.) edge bruising, nearly very fine

Pair: Private E. Sloane, 13th (3rd South Downs) Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, who was wounded on the Western Front on 23 April 1916
British War and Victory Medals (SD-3228 Pte. E. Sloane. R. Suss. R.) very fine

British War Medal 1914-20 (2) (5095 Cpl. F. A. Cooper. R. Suss. R.; SD-3349 Pte. C. Frost. R. Suss. R.) good very fine or better (8) £100-£140

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Small Collection of Great War Medals to the Royal Sussex Regiment.

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George Tilt Field was born in Eastbourne, Sussex, in 1885, and attested there for the Royal Sussex Regiment. He served with the 13th (3rd South Downs) Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front, and was taken Prisoner of War. He died in captivity on 21 May 1918, and is buried in Hautmont Communal Cemetery, France. Given the cemetery in which he is buried, it is probable that he died whilst in a German hospital from wounds received in action.

Ernest Sloane was born in Seaford, Sussex, in 1892, and attested for the Royal Sussex Regiment at Hove on 23 December 1914. He served with the 13th (3rd South Downs) Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 5 March 1916, and was wounded by gunshot to the head and right hand in the trenches at Givenchy on 23 April 1916, which rendered him temporally blind. He was discharged on 16 August 1916 on account of his wounds, and was awarded a Silver War Badge.

Charles Frost was born in Lewes, Sussex, in 1886, and attested there for the Royal Sussex Regiment. He served with the 13th (3rd South Downs) Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front, ‘and was badly wounded in the shoulder in France on 30 June 1916, and lay out in “no man’s land” for a week before being picked up. This exposure was to a large degree responsible for his death.’ (article in the East Sussex News, 11 August 1916 refers). On the day that Frost was wounded, the Battalion, along with the other two South Downs Battalions, was involved in an attack on the Boar’s Head, a salient in the German lines near Richebourg, one of the number of diversionary operations intended to draw the enemy’s attention away from the Battle of the Somme which started the following day. Subsequently known as ‘the day Sussex died’, the three Battalions collectively suffered over 350 killed, and over 1,000 wounded or taken Prisoner of War. Evacuated to England, Frost died of wounds at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, Rochester, Kent, and is buried in Lewes Cemetery.

Sold with copied research.