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Auction: 21001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals (conducted behind closed doors)
Lot: 488

(x) Six: Private A. J. Pike, Grenadier Guards, later Royal Army Medical Corps, who survived the Boer War and trained as a nurse only to return to action during the Great War

Queens South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, South Africa 1902, Transvaal, Cape Colony (7475 Pte A. Pike Grenadier Guards.); 1914-15 Star; British War and Victory Medals (22412 Pte A. J. Pike. R.A.M.C.); City of Bristol Asylum Medal for Proficiency in Mental Nursing (John Alfred Pike May 1907); St. Johns Ambulance Association Medal (102420 Alfred J Pike), good very fine (6)

Alfred John Pike served as a Private in the Grenadier Guards during the Second Boer War. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Grenadier Guards both served during this conflict and saw action on numerous occasions. During his time in South Africa Pike also spent time with a Guards detachment.

After the war Pike worked at the Bristol Asylum and was member of the St. John's Ambulance Association. This medical training and experience was to serve him well in the coming years.

Enlisted with the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1914, he served in the Balkans Theatre from 15 November 1915. This theatre of battle was opened after the collapse of Serbia in October 1915. However delays and a lack of enthusiasm for the position by the Allies meant that when troops began to arrive in Salonika on 5 October they were underprepared. Winter was spent in the mountains some 60 miles north of Salonika and the harsh weather combined with the lack of preparation caused a huge surge in cases of frostbite. After being forced back to Salonica the allied army dug in and remained in that position for the bulk of the war, they were particularly stricken by diseases such as Malaria. Pike and his fellow medics would have been kept very busy even during periods of non-combat. In September 1918 allied breakthroughs caused the collapse of Bulgaria and victory in the Balkans; sold together with copied medal index cards, regimental medal rolls and Bristol Asylum research.

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Sold for
£190

Starting price
£110