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Auction: 22102 - Orders, Decorations and Medals e-Auction VI - e-Auction
Lot: 297

Three: 2nd Lieutenant V. L. Hamilton, 6th Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps, late Imperial Light Horse, the son of a D.S.O. winning Captain who served in German South West Africa before being Commissioned and later killed in action on the last day of the Battle of Messines, 14 June 1917

1914-15 Star (Pte V. L. Hamilton, 2nd I .L. H.); British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. V. L. Hamilton), with named card box of issue, good very fine (3)

Vyvyan Lodwick Hamilton was born at Greytown, South Africa on 20 August 1888, the son of Constance and Captain Cyril Hamilton D.S.O. of The Wattles, Greytown, Natal. His father was a member of the patrol which found the bodies of Lieutenants Melville and Coghill after the disaster at Isandlwana and later served with Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry during the Anglo-Boer War, becoming one of only eight men from that unit to be awarded the D.S.O.

Educated at Grey College, Bloemfontain, Hamilton was working as an amalgamator when war broke out. He quickly enlisted with 2nd Imperial Light Horse on 16 November 1914, seeing service with them in German South West Africa before being demobilised upon the conclusion of the campaign on 16 June 1915. Still wishing to serve and not being prepared to wait for the South African mobilisation Hamilton travelled to Britain. Here he enlisted first with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers on 26 June 1916 but was discharged that same day to No.11 Officer’s Cadet Corps.

Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant on 19 December 1916 he was posted to 6th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, although he entered the war in France attached to 18th (Arts and Crafts) Battalion on 8 March 1917. They saw action at the Battle of Messines from 7-14 June 1917. They were stationed in the Hollebeke sector in the final day of the fighting when a combined attack with the 11th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment was launched upon Olive Trench. The War Diary notes:

‘The attack was entirely successful, the assaulting party had gained their objective by 7.50 pm 20 prisoners were taken, 2 machine guns and a dismantled battery of 5 9” howitzers while the enemy losses in killed & wounded were heavy – casualties killed, Officers 3, O.R. 9 – Wounded, Officers 2. O.R. 59.'

Hamilton was one of the three officers killed in the attack, he is commemorated upon the Menin Gate Memorial; sold together with copied research including Commonwealth War Graves Details, M.I.C. and Service Records.

Further entitled to the Great War Bronze Memorial Plaque.

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Sold for
£200

Starting price
£130