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Auction: 16001 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals and Militaria
Lot: 205

Three: Lieutenant-Colonel W.F.H. Vaughan, Royal Army Medical Corps
1914 Star (Capt. W.F.H. Vaughan. R.A.M.C.); British War and Victory Medals (Lt. Col. W.F.H. Vaughan.), good very fine (3)

Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Frank Hamilton Vaughan, born Ealing, Middlesex, March 1879; educated at Marlborough College and underwent his medical training at St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington, subsequently employed as resident senior medical assistant at Marylebone Infirmary, Notting Hill, and as clinical assistant at Leicester Infirmary; Commissioned Lieutenant, Royal Army Medical Corps, 30.1.1904; promoted Captain, 30.7.1907; appointed to the Malta Garrison as specialist in Operative Surgery from September 1913; served during the Great War on the Western Front from 1914; promoted Major, 1.7.1915; appointed temporary Lieutenant-Colonel whilst in command of a Field Ambulance, 27.9.1915; retired on account of ill-health with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, 9.12.1921; died 26.8.1926, following a fatal fall from an upstairs bedroom window at Bridgewater, Somerset.

Tragedy at Bridgwater
According to the Coroner's Inquest, 'the deceased, who was in ill-health as a result of war service, and suffered from neuritis, had lodged at the home of Mrs. Georgina Ellis, an elderly widow, for five months following treatment at the military hospital at Bath. On Monday the 23rd August he appeared to be in normal condition during the day, but in the evening he became rather excited. He slept downstairs, and during the early part of the evening was asleep, but woke up at about quarter to twelve, and seeing the moon shining, thought it was the sun. He said he wanted to go out into the garden to see the flowers. Mrs. Ellis prevented him from doing so by locking the door of the house and taking away the key. She quietened him, and left him in bed downstairs, apparently comfortable and asleep. However, he rose again, and climbing the stairs, went into an unoccupied bedroom, shut, and locked the door. Mrs. Ellis rose again, went downstairs and unlocked the front door, with the intention of going out and looking through the window to see what had happened to him. She went out, and found him lying in the road under the upstairs window. He was in great pain. Neighbours came and helped him into the house and put him to bed. A Doctor was fetched, and arrived within a few minutes, but the deceased only regained consciousness for about half an hour until his death, which took place at 2:30am on Thursday morning.' (Bridgwater Mercury refers).

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Sold for
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