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Auction: 21003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 71

The 1914-15 Star awarded to Private G. Hanniss, 'A' Company, 8th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, killed in action in the costly attack on Intermediate Trench during the Battle of Somme, 30 July 1916, having surely previously been witness to his CO, the legendary Lieutenant-Colonel (later Lieutenant-General) Carton de Wiart, winning his famous Victoria Cross at La Boiselle on 3 July 1916

1914-15 Star (11687 Pte. G. Hanniss. Glouc: R.), good very fine

George Hanniss was born in 1888 at Gloucester, son of George and Margaret of 26 Wellesley Street, Gloucester. Working at the Gloucester Wagon Works before the outbreak of the Great War, he served in France with the 8th Battalion from 18 July 1915. The Battalion saw heavy action on 3 July 1916 at Boiselle, when their legendary CO, Lieutenant-Colonel Adrian Carton de Wiart, assumed command of three other Battalions in the 57th Brigade. de Wiart won a superb Victoria Cross in the actions; during the battle the men saw the man they called 'Nelson' - for he had lost a hand earlier in the War - tearing out the safety-pins of bombs with his teeth, and hurling the bombs at the enemy with his one hand. He had also lost an eye in battle, and wore a black patch. Such was the devotion to the men of the 8th Gloucesters, the gallant de Wiart credited that '...every man in the Battalion has done as much as I have.'

Hanniss thence would have gone into action at Pozieres, before the fateful attack on Intermediate Trench on 30 July. In the face of heavy machine-gun and sniper fire, the 8th Battalion, with Hanniss and 'A' Company to the fore, they pressed home the attack. Some 65 men, Hanniss included, were killed. 14 Officers – including, for the second time in a week, its CO, Major Lord A. G. Thynne - wounded and 160 other ranks added to the casualty list. Hanniss is commemorated upon the Thiepval Memorial. His War Gratuity and effects were granted to his mother.

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Sold for
£35

Starting price
£30