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Auction: 21102 - Orders, Decorations and Medals e-Auction 3
Lot: 371

Three: Lieutenant G. R. C. Single, 1/4th Battalion, Essex Regiment, who was killed in action in North Africa on 6 April 1943

1939-45 Star; Africa Star, clasp, 1st Army; War Medal 1939-45, together with Army Council enclosure named in memory of 'Lieutenant G. R. C. Single,' and with card box of issue named to his father 'Mr S. R. Single Esq., 1A Clarendon Mansions, Kings Rd, Brighton, Sussex', together with his father's Special Constabulary Long Service Medal, G.V.R. (Samuel R. Single.), nearly extremely fine (4)

Geoffrey Robert Charles Single was born in 1922, the son of Samuel Robert Single, of Brighton. Young Single was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the Essex Regiment from 163rd O.C.T.U. Artists Rifles on 19 December 1939. Single was clearly a talented sportsman, for he was selected for a Two-Day Cricket Match to raise funds for the Duke of Gloucester's Red Cross and Army Welfare Fund. Single was selected in 2nd Lieutenant Peter Smith's - a Test match player and Essex cricketer, who served in the 2/4th Battalion, Essex Regiment - Army XI, in a match which featured no less than six Test match players. Single showed himself a skilled player, making 14 runs, before being caught off the bowling of Hampshire player Hill. The match also featured the Yorkshire legend Maurice Leyland.

Single would have been in the thick of the action towards the end of 1942, when the 1/4th Battalion served with the 4th Indian Division in action at the Second Battle of El Alamein. They participated in the actions that eventually led to the fall of Tunis; Single was killed in action on 6 April 1943 and is buried in the Sfax War Cemetery.

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Sold for
£120

Starting price
£60