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Auction: 20001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - conducted behind closed doors
Lot: 892

The poignant Great War pair and Memorial Plaque issued in remembrance of Private W. Scott, The King's Liverpool Regiment; taken prisoner at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917, Scott died of influenza in a Danish hospital on 13 January 1919, while he was being repatriated to England after the Armistice; Scott was therefore the last Briton to die on Danish soil

British War and Victory Medals (268347 Pte. W. Scott. L'Pool R.), with Bronze Memorial Plaque 'William Scott', very fine (3)

William Scott was born at Everton in August 1896. Attesting for the 12th Battalion, King's Liverpool Regiment, Scott served at the Battle of Cambrai in late 1917. At 7.30 a.m. on 30 November that year, his Battalion was subjected to a German creeping barrage while being strafed by low-flying aeroplanes. After several hours, the German infantry advanced en masse. The regimental War Diary records 57 casualties and 238 men 'missing'. Scott was taken prisoner.

Detained at Dülmen Camp near Münster, Scott could finally return home after the Armistice. Captain Charles Dix, the British Naval Attaché in Copenhagen, devised the 'Danish Scheme' for repatriating British prisoners of war via Danish ports to Leith, Hull and Dover. Billeted at Greve, Scott was due for embarkation when he contracted Spanish flu. He died in hospital on 13 January 1919 and was buried four days later, making him the last Briton to die on Danish soil. He is commemorated on the memorial at Copenhagen West Cemetery; sold with a file of copied research.


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Sold for
£280

Starting price
£250