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Auction: 23001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 367

A very rare 'Ireland' M.S.M. group of four awarded to Company Quartermaster Sergeant J. Wright, 615th Company, Army Service Corps, late Royal Field Artillery

1914 Star, copy clasp (16400 Bmbr: J. Wright. R.F.A.); British War and Victory Medals (16400 A.B.Q.M.Sjt. J. Wright. R.A.); Army Meritorious Service Medal, G.V.R. (M-38414 Pte. A.C.Q.M.Sjt. - J. Wright. R.A.S.C.), very fine (4)

M.S.M. London Gazette 3 June 1919. Published entry states: '...valuable service rendered in connection with the War' but the M.S.M. card confirms 'Ireland', no doubt on account of the political implications - and to protect those decorated - for such awards being promulgated.

John Wright was born at Keighley, Yorkshire in 1882 and enlisted in the Royal Artillery in April 1901. He served in France with the 12th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery from 11 September 1914 and was transferred to the Army Service Corps in France in July 1917.

He was made Acting Company Quartermaster Sergeant on 2 August 1916, the same day on which he joined the 615th Company in Dublin. Whilst no War Diary survives, the History of the Army Service Corps states:

'Throughout, service in Ireland was uncomfortable and trying, particularly for the R.A.S.C. whose units had to cover enormous distances and whose vehicles were constantly being ambushed and presented easy targets for sudden attack. The Corps suffered its full share of casualties, many of them fatal. Barbed wire, armed convoy, interrupted communications and a strict curfew were the lot of the soldier in Ireland. The British soldier fights clean, but here you never knew what was going to happen; the fellow who asked you out to dinner would shoot you in the back as you were going out.'

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Sold for
£650

Starting price
£280