Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 7012 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 587

The Great War ´Thiepval 1916´ M.M., and Bar Group of Four to De Havilland Pilot Second Lieutenant E.A. Brownhill, Royal Air Force, Late Royal Flying Corps and Royal Army Medical Corps, Twice Decorated for Gallantry as a Stretcher Bearer, and Later Killed in Action in a Raid Over Darmstadt, August 1918, When His D.H.4 in Consort With Three Others Was Jumped by 20 Enemy Fighters a) Military Medal, G.V.R., with Second Award Bar (903 Sjt: E.A. Brownhill. 1/3 W. Rid: F.A. R.A.M.C.-T.F.) b) 1914-15 Star (903 Sjt. E.A. Brownhill, R.A.M.C.), a post 1921 issue c) British War and Victory Medals (2/Lieut. E.A. Brownhill. R.A.F.), extremely fine, with two Great War Period "Carbons" of recipient´s respective M.M. citations; letter of condolence addressed to Mrs. E.A. Brownhill from Buckingham Palace (Keeper of the Privy Purse), dated 20.9.1920, with original envelope; certified copy of recipient´s Marriage Certificate, dated 15.9.1918; and three photographs of the recipient (lot) Estimate £ 2,000-2,400 M.M. London Gazette 9.12.1916 903 Sergeant E.A. Brownhill 1/3rd (West Riding) Field Ambulance. The following information was taken from Regimental Routine Orders dated 25.10.1916, ´For gallant conduct on 5 September 1916 in going out several times from a sap in Thiepval Wood to collect casualties from No Man´s Land who had been lying out for 36 hours. The Divisional Commander warmly congratulates the recipient and the unit to which he belongs.´ M.M. Second Award Bar London Gazette 19.2.1917 903 Sjt. E.A. Brownhill, R.A.M.C. The following information was taken from Regimental Routine Orders dated 9.12.1916: ´For gallantry on the evening of 19 November 1916 in attending to wounded men under heavy shell fire. The Divisional Commander warmly congratulates Sergeant Brownhill and the 1/3rd (W.R.) Field Ambulance.´ Second Lieutenant Earnest Albert Brownhill, M.M., born Sheffield, Yorkshire, 1893; joined Royal Army Medical Corps (T.F.), 25.51910; Lance Corporal 5.8.1914; Corporal 26.9.1914; served during the Great War with the regiment in the French Theatre of War 15.4.1915-19.3.1917; promoted Sergeant, in the field, 8.5.1915; when applying for a commission in 1917, Brownhill´s C.O. described his intelligence as ´exceptionally brilliant´, with ´very good power of command and at his best when in charge of a party of bearers working under fire.´; commissioned Temporary Second Lieutenant Royal Flying Corps, 25.9.1917; Brownhill qualified for his "Wings" in June 1918, and after an initial posting to 52 Squadron he was posted to 55 Squadron in France as a component of 41st Wing, Independent Force; on 16.8.1918 Brownhill, piloting D.H.4 D.9273, was part of a morning raid on the railway at Darmstadt, ´The original target had been Koln, but low cloud made the leader choose the alternative target of Mannheim instead and, as conditions improved, they pressed on a little further and hit Darmstadt. Throughout August, enemy opposition on these raids was increasingly daily, and on their way home, near Mannheim, they were attacked by twenty fighters who shot four D.H.4s and wounded other crew´ (The Sky Their Battlefield, T. Henshaw, refers); Brownhill and his Observer Second Lieutenant W.T. Madge occupied one of the four De Havilland´s, ´On 16th August 1918 a D.H.4. (reg.) D. 9273 was shot south of Bensheim on the mountain road. Both occupants dead due to shot wounds through the head and breast.´ Brownhill and Madge were both buried in Niederzwehren Cemetery, Germany.

Sold for
£2,100