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Auction: 17002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 296

(x) Scottish Horse Yeomanry

Three: Private J. Leith, 2nd Scottish Horse and 13th (Scottish Horse) Battalion, The Black Watch

1914-15 Star (2398 Pte. J. Leith, 2 SCO. H.); British War and Victory Medals (2398 Pte. J. Leith, 2 Sco. H.), contact marks, nearly very fine (3)

John Leith landed at Suvla, Gallipoli on 2 September 1915, as part of 1st Scottish Horse Brigade, which quickly suffered casualties from Turkish shell fire. A number of the Brigade's men - likely ex-keepers - were issued with rifles fitted with telescopic sights, General Sir Ian Hamilton noting in his diary that they were 'as keen as schoolboys out for their first shoot'.

In a letter home, dated 4 November 1915, Lieutenant-Colonel A. D. Borton, V.C., D.S.O., who was attached R.N.A.S. Armoured Cars, described an amusing incident in which he and a Scottish Horse lookout were apprehended by a party of Lancashire Fusiliers 'as Turkish spies in British uniform': the Colonel and lookout had been overheard conversing in Gaelic.

Whiteford later served in the 13th (Scottish Horse) Battalion, The Black Watch and was discharged in March 1919; sold with copied MIC and related notes.


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Sold for
£160