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Auction: 19001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 476

1914-15 Star (4-1243 C.S. Mjr. A. G. Withyman, R. Suss. R.), good very fine

Arthur George Withyman was born at Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, where he enlisted in the Sussex Regiment (Territorial Force). Mobilised in August 1914, he landed at Gallipoli at midnight on 8 August 1915, as Company Sergeant-Major of 'D' Company in the 1/4th Battalion; the following day, Withyman and his comrades supported a costly attack on Scimitar Hill. By early October, the Battalion's strength had been reduced to about 200 officers and men, as a result of which it was temporarily amalgamated with the 2/4th Queen's.

Withyman next served in Egypt and Palestine and was killed in action at the First Battle of Gaza on 26 March 1917. On this day, the battalion lost six officers and 25 men killed; a further seven officers and 153 men were wounded. As part of the 53rd (Welsh) Division, the 4/Sussex left bivouac at Deir el Belah and marched all night to reach the es Sire Ridge at 08.30 a.m.; patrols were then pushed forward before the attack started at 11.50 a.m. Heavy fire from the outset continued throughout the day and one account reported, 'at about 2.15 I go into the line. The position gets worse.' By this time the heavy casualties had included Lieutenant-Colonel Ashworth who was killed; a fall back from ground captured was then followed by a desperate stand on a ridge immediately to the rear. Sometime during this day, Withyman was killed. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Jerusalem Memorial.

Aged 32, he was the son of George and Annie Withyman of 'Lymedale', Western Road, Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, and the husband of Florence, who lived in the same road - she renamed her house 'Gaza' in memory of her late husband.


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Estimate
£50 to £60