The Jack Webb Collection of Medals and Militaria

A Great War 1916 ‘Battle of Le Transloy’ M.C. group of nine awarded to Lieutenant G. A. King, 7th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment

Military Cross, G.V.R., reverse privately engraved ‘Lt. G. A. King. 7th. Middlesex. Le Transloy. Oct. 1 & 7 1916, Invested Dec. 30 1916’; 1914-15 Star (2-Lieut. G. A. King. Midd’x. R.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. G. A. King.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, mounted as worn; together with the recipient’s corresponding miniature awards, good very fine and better (9) £1,000-£1,400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Jack Webb Collection of Medals and Militaria.

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Provenance: Purchased from the recipient, July 1974.

M.C. London Gazette 1 December 1916.

Geoffrey Arthur King was born on 5 July 1897 and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 7th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment on 9 September 1914. He served with them during the Great War on the Western Front from the date of the Battalion’s arrival on 12 March 1915, and was awarded the Military Cross for his gallantry at Le Transloy in October 1916: ‘One officer received the Military Cross, Lieutenant G. A. King, who had shown marked initiative in the advance on October 1st, and had again distinguished himself in the organisation and consolidation of the captured line on the night of October 7th.’ (The History of the Seventh Middlesex by E. J. King refers).

King was reported ‘sick with functional derangement of vision (night blindness)’ on 5 December 1916, and returned home, but had sufficiently recovered by June the following year. He subsequently served as Brigade Intelligence Officer with 167 Brigade in 1918, and relinquished his commission with the rank of Lieutenant on 1 June 1920. Following the outbreak of the Second World War he was commissioned Lieutenant in the Middlesex Regiment on 16 October 1940, and served with them in North Africa and Italy.

For their gallantry at Le Transloy in October 1916, the 7th Battalion were awarded it as a Battle Honour for the Great War.