A Collection of Medals to Great War Casualties

Pair: Corporal A. Toy, 44th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, who was killed in action on the Western Front at Vimy Ridge on 23 August 1917

British War and Victory Medals (718838 Cpl. A. Toy. 44-Can. Inf.) in named card box of issue, with Militia Council enclosure; Memorial Plaque (Arthur Toy) in card envelope, with Buckingham Palace enclosure, in outer (Canadian) OHMS transmission envelope, addressed to ‘Mrs. E. M. Toy, 79 George St., West Bromwich, England’; Canadian Memorial Cross, G.V.R., ’718838 Cpl. A. Toy.’, in case of issue; together with the recipient’s cap badge, extremely fine (4) £240-£280

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to Great War Casualties.

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Arthur Toy was born in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, on 9 November 1882, and having emigrated to Canada attested for the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force in Winnipeg on 16 March 1916. He served with the 44th (Manitoba) Battalion, Canadian Infantry, during the Great War on the Western Front, and was posted missing in action on Vimy Ridge on 23 August 1917.

Initially thought to have been taken Prisoner of War, Toy’s Commanding Officer wrote to the recipient's wife: ‘Corporal Toy was engaged in an attack, in which the party he was acting with was cut off from the Battalion. A man who was successful in getting back from the party state the majority were taken prisoner by the enemy.’

Unfortunately Toy was not amongst those men taken Prisoner, and consequently he was officially recorded as having been killed in action on 23 August 1917. Later testimony from members of the 44th Canadian at Munster Prisoner of War Camp state that they witnessed him having been killed as a result of a gunshot wound to the head. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial, France.

Sold with various original letters regarding the recipient having been posted missing, and later having been declared killed in action; various newspaper cuttings, including a photograph of the recipient; and copied research.