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Auction: 22102 - Orders, Decorations and Medals e-Auction VI - e-Auction
Lot: 440

Three: 2nd Lieutenant E. R. Nutting, 3rd Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment, attached 10th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment who was killed in action during the Attack on Grandcourt, 18 November 1916, the last day of the Somme

British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. E. R. Nutting.); Great War Bronze Memorial Plaque (Ernest Ralph Nutting), the last set in a marble ink pen stand, very fine (3)

'Ernest was one of the most capable officers in the Church Lads Brigade I have ever known. He was devoted to the lads of his company, and they to him and what was true here we knew would be equally true of him in this dreadful field of this grim war. Responding to the first call, his many capabilities stood in the way of his promotion and when that came, he was kept aside training others to face the ordeal whilst all the time I knew he was chafed at [SIC] the enforced delay in facing it himself. He inspired love and confidence by his simple and sincere nobility of character. He hated war as so many a great soldier hated it. It sorely hurt his gentle and sweet spirit but his sense of duty and honour made him string with something more than physical strength and courage'

Ernest Ralph Nutting was born at Moseley, Worcestershire on 18 September 1879, the son of William and Ellen Nutting of Hazlewood, 41 Prospect Road, Moseley. His grandfather built up a success manufacturing business, making walking sticks, canes and umbrellas and from his youth Nutting was a partner in this enterprise. His father died young on 11 November 1886 at the age of just 46, forcing his mother to take a hand in running the business, this she was able to do with the help of her children. Nutting appears on the 1901 census as a Mechanical Engineer, a vocation which may be partly explained by his desire to help in the running of the family partnership, by 1911 he was a fully fledged-partner.

A steadfast member of the Old Edwardians and Church Lads Brigade Movement, he taught drill and military routine there. On the outbreak of war Nutting enlisted with 14th Battalion (1st Birmingham Pals), Royal Warwickshire Regiment on 10 September 1914 and, doubtless on the back of his drill experience, was promoted Sergeant on 18 October that same year. Applying for a Commission in May 1915 he was successful on 13 June 1915 and Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant with the 3rd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment.

Entering the war in France on 10 May 1916 attached to the 10th Battalion, Nutting's unit was to become involved in the Battle of Ancre in November 1916 as part of 57th Brigade. They moved to attack the German lines at Desire Trench on 18 November 1916 in what became officially the last day of the Somme. Moving out in the morning under the cover of an artillery barrage the Battalion lost its way in a dense snowstorm and came under heavy machine gun fire. Major Fitzgerald commanding 'A' Company, finding it impossible to break through the German wire, ordered a withdrawal. Heavy losses followed as enemy artillery joined in the attack however the Battalion was able to disengage. Causalities stood at 2 officers and 17 other ranks dead, 7 officers and other ranks wounded and three officers and 65 other ranks missing. Nutting was one of the two officers confirmed dead although it does not appear that his body was recovered from the field. He is commemorated upon the Thiepval Memorial; sold together with copied research including census data, Commonwealth War Graves details and extracts from the Battalion War diary as well as a typed article on the Lieutenants life with a list of sources used and an M.I.C.

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Sold for
£160

Starting price
£110