Military Cross GVR; Military Medal GVR (5356 SQ:Q.M.SJT. W.J. WEST. 12/LRS:); Queens South Africa Medal clasps Cape Colony, South Africa 1902 (5356 PTE. W.J. WEST. 12TH: RL: LANCERS); 1914 Star copy clasp 5th Aug. to 22 Nov.1914 (5356 SJT W.J. WEST. 12/LRS.); British War Medal (MAJOR W.J. WEST.); Victory Medal with M.I.D. Oakleaf (MAJOR W.J. WEST.); Cross of the Order of St. George 4th Class (Russia) - unnamed as awarded.
William James West Served Boer War/WWI 12th Lancers to France 15.8.1914 WIA 25.9.1914 MID & Russian Award 1915 MM & MC 1917 KIA 3.9.1918
West enlisted into the army in September 1901 and was a late entrant to the Anglo Boer War, serving with the 12th lancers he earned the Cape Colony and South Africa 1902 clasps to his medal. It was in the Great War 1914-18 that he was to make his mark and meet with an untimely end. He was sent to France as a Sergeant with the 12th Lancers on 15 August 1914, making him one of the first to enter that theatre of war. It wasn't long before he was reported Wounded in Action on 25 September 1914. A capable man, he was awarded a Mention in Dispatches on 22 June 1915 and was the recipient of a Russian award from the Czar, the Cross of the Order of St George 4th Class, in August 1915.
Further accolades came his way with the award of the Military Medal in the London Gazette of 11 October 1916 when he was a Squadron Quartermaster Sergeant with the 12th Lancers and the Military Cross as a 2nd Lieutenant (Acting Captain) attached to the 14th Hampshire Regiment into which he had been commissioned, in the London Gazette of 18 October 1917 . He was Killed in Action with the 2nd Hampshire Regiment on Tuesday, 3rd September 1918 at the age of 35.
He had been through the retreat from Mons, the battles of the Aisne, the Marne, and Ypres.
Medals are in good condition unless indicated otherwise. Sold with a comprehensive dossier of research.
