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Auction: 25002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 104

A poignant Great War group of four awarded to Major W. J. Brooke, King's Shropshire Light Infantry, who was attached to the 21st (Service) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, when he died of wounds in the battle of Lys in April 1918

1914-15 Star (Capt. W. J. Brooke, Shrops L.I.); British War and Victory Medals (Major W. J. Brooke); Coronation 1911, together with his Memorial Plaque (William John Brooke), good very fine (5)

Provenance:
Dix Noonan Webb, 22 October 1997.

William John Brooke was born on 6 May 1876, the son of John Townsend Brooke and Lady Wilhelmina Brooke of Haughton Hall, Shifnal, Shropshire, and a grandson of the 4th Earl of Dartmouth.

Educated at Eton and New College, Oxford, he took over the family estate on his father's death in January 1899, by which time he was serving as a local magistrate. His father had been a Major in the 1st Salop Rifle Volunteers and William chose to follow suit, gaining a commission in the 3rd Battalion, Shropshire Light Infantry in September 1898.

By the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he was serving as a Captain, and he remained in the 3rd Battalion until August 1915, when presumably he was embarked for France in a different battalion.

In May 1916, he joined the 1st Battalion as a Company Commander, and was appointed second-in-command on his promotion to Major. He undoubtedly saw action on the Somme and the regimental history records his departure to a field ambulance in February 1917. It was an unhappy time, his son dying in an accident at school in the same month.

Brooke transferred to the 7th Battalion in October 1917, from which was attached to the 21st (Service) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment at the year's end. He died of wounds in the Battle of Lys on 9 April 1918, when the battalion came under heavy artillery fire. The war diary states that he was killed about 11 a.m., but later - corrected - official sources state that he actually died of wounds.

He is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium.

Brooke's estate was valued at £13,535 and Haughton Hall passed to his nephew in the fullness of time. His widow, Gwendolen Margaret Brooke, took up residence in a cottage in the grounds. Today the 'big house' is a hotel and leisure centre; sold with a large quantity of copied research.

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Estimate
£400 to £600

Starting price
£320