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Auction: 6017 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 118

A Good 1915 ´Ypres´ D.S.O. Group of Five to Lieutenant-Colonel E.M. Beall [C.M.G.], Liverpool Regiment, Who Was Severely Wounded Leading His Men in the Attack on the 1st of May Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with top riband bar; Queen´s South Africa 1899-1902, three clasps, Cape Colony, Transvaal, South Africa 1902 (Capt: E.M. Beall, L´pool: Rgt.); 1914-15 Star (Major E.M. Beall. L´Pool. R.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oakleaves (Lt. Col. E.M. Beall.), VM renamed, very fine or better, with Officers Cap Badge (6) Estimate £ 1,200-1,400[C.M.G.] London Gazette 3.6.1918 T./ Lt.-Col. Edward Metcalfe Beall, D.S.O. , L´Pool R. D.S.O. London Gazette 3.7.1915 Edward Metcalfe Beall, Major, 4th Battn. The King´s (Liverpool Regt.), ´For excellent work throughout the operations near Ypres from 24 April to 4 May, 1915, especially during the attack on 27 April, when he was with the leading company in the front line. He returned to Battalion Headquarters for reinforcements, and took them forward with him to the front line. He was also conspicuous in the attack on 1 May.´ Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Metcalfe Beall, C.M.G., D.S.O. (1874-1950); educated at Beaumont College; commissioned Honorary Captain 2nd Lancashire Militia, 15.5.1900; served with the Mounted Infantry during the Boer War, 1900-02; Captain 4th Battalion Liverpool Regiment, 3.9.1904; Major 25.8.1909; Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel, Officer Commanding, 4th Battalion Liverpool Regiment, 4.6.1916; and is mentioned several times in the 33rd Division History for his services during the Great War, including for the Second Battle of Ypres (see D.S.O. Citation), ´Three British officers and thirty men of the 1/4th Gurkhas succeeded in reaching a large farm at the bottom of the slope, where they held on under a galling fire, but it was about 4pm before the remainder of the battalion joined them. At that hour, seeing that the Gurkhas were held up, Lieut.-Colonel J.W. Allen, commanding 4th King´s Regiment, decided to reinforce them. "The King´s, splendidly led by their officers, advanced by short rushes, with the enemy pumping lead into them and men falling in heaps. A number, under Major E.M. Beall, succeeded in getting within two hundred yards of the enemy´s line, but it was evident that the wire in front of the German trench was untouched, and it was impossible to push on further. This spirited dash enabled a number of the 1/4th Gurkhas to join the small party which was holding on to the farm.......... The 4th King´s had not been long in showing their quality, for the battalion had only landed in France during the preceding month......... The story of this attack in the Battalion Diary of the 4th King´s is not illuminating. It merely states that "at 12 noon the battalion formed up for the attack and assaulted the German positions, in support of 1/4th Gurkha Rifles. The battalion suffered severely, losing.....approximately 374 other ranks killed, wounded and missing"....... The last attack of the 1st May had cost the 4th King´s one officer (Capt. D.A. Lumsden) killed, and two officers (Major E.M. Beall and Second Lieutenant P.R.F. Mason) wounded, and approximately forty-three other ranks killed and wounded", and another occasion at Guemappe when, ´The second attack was carried out at 7pm, by the 4th King´s Liverpool Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel E.M. Beall, who, in his shirt sleeves, personally conducted his leading bombing party´ (Mentioned in Despatches London Gazette 3.7.1915, 1.1.1916, 22.5.1917, 18.12.1917, 23.5.1918); employed with the Foreign Officer as Controller for Lubnitz, Upper Siliesian Plebiscite, 1920-21; retired Lieutenant-Colonel 8.1.1932.

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£1,300