Medal group consisting of British War Medal, Victory Medal and General Service Medal (1918) with ‘Kurdistan’ clasp – awarded to Private JOHN THOMPSON of the 6th (Service) Battalion the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment

Stock Reference – MM-MED-0027

Medal group consisting of British War Medal, Victory Medal and General Service Medal (1918) with ‘Kurdistan’ clasp – awarded to Private JOHN THOMPSON of the 6^th (Service) Battalion the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment

You are looking at a WW1 medal pair and General Service Medal (1918) with ‘Kurdistan’ clasp awarded to Private JOHN WILLIAM THOMPSON of the 6^th (Service) Battalion the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.

The medal group is made up of: 

British War and Victory Medal inscribed ‘32595 PTE. J.W.THOMPSON. L.N.LAN.R.’

General Service Medal with ‘Kurdistan’ clasp inscribed ‘32595 PTE. J.W.THOMPSON. L.N.LAN.R.’

 The 6^th Battalion were raised at Preston in 1914, and they saw service during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915, were evacuated from that theatre to Egypt, after which they deployed to Mesopotamia (Iraq), however, it is clear JOHN enlisted into the regiment after these initial deployments, because his service number 32595 is within a block of numbers issued late 1916 to early 1917.  

The 6^th Battalion and other Lancashire units landed in Basra in March 1916, where they were involved in the relief of the besieged garrison at Kut (April 1916), the crossing of the Diyalah River and the Capture of Baghdad (March 1917), the Samarra Offensive (April 1917), the Battle of Ramadi (September 1917), and they remained in the region until being called upon to put down the Iraqi Revolt (1920) and then move to Kurdistan.

It cannot be established exactly when JOHN joined his battalion, but it is likely he was involved in at least some of the later actions in which his battalion fought, and he was awarded the General Service Medal for ‘Kurdistan’, with the date the 4^th of December 1924 provided within the associated record, so he appears to have still been serving at that time.  

JOHN, the son of WILLIAM and MARY THOMPSON, was born in Manchester on the 5^th of March 1891, and according to the Medal Index Card, his family home address was 23 Prince Street, Ardwick in Manchester, and he can be found at this address in the 1939 Register, at with his profession recorded as railway good’s clerk. It is likely he is the JOHN W THOMPSON who died in 1958 at the age of 67 years and whose death was registered in Manchester in the June quarter of that year.   

SELLER NOTE = Supporting documentation obtained and / or created during my research into this medal will be provided.