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Auction: 19002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 238

A scarce Great War R.S.M.'s M.S.M. group of four awarded to Regimental Sergeant-Major W. Fry, 2/5th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry

British War Medal 1914-20 (1537 W. O. Cl. 1. W. Fry. Som. L. I.); Territorial Force War Medal 1914-19 (1537 A. Sjt. W. E. Fry. Som. L. I.); Territorial Force Efficiency Medal, G.V.R. (240235 T. S. Mjr. W. Fry. 5/Som: L. I.); Meritorious Service Medal, G.V.R., 1st type (240235 R. S. Mjr. W. Fry. 2/5 Som. L. I.), toned, some light edge wear, very fine (4)

M.S.M. London Gazette 3 September 1920.

William Ernest Fry was born in December 1891 at Wellington, Somerset and enlisted in the 2/5th Battalion upon its formation at Taunton in September 1914. Landing in India in December 1914 the entire Division was broken up on arrival for employment in the Burma Division. It January 1916 it joined part of Rangoon Brigade in the same Division (Sole entitlement confirmed upon MIC). Fry succeeded Sergeant A. W. Slocombe, a fellow native of Wellington in the position of Regimental Sergeant-Major, as noted in The Book of Remembrance:

'Sergeant W. E. Fry of 'D' Company was appointed to fill the vacancy. This appointment he held to the end [of the War], to the satisfaction of his Commanding Officer, and he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal soon after demobilization.'

Fry was also awarded the T.F.E.M. in Army Order 23 of 1 February 1920; sold with a large (glazed and framed) coloured portrait of the recipient and copied research.

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Sold for
£480