WW1 Medal pair – British War Medal & Victory Medal (missing 1914-15 Star) awarded to Corporal ARTHUR ERNEST RADCLIFFE, 1st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers – Killed in action 27th March 1916 at ST ELOI, a significant and well publicised action

Stock Reference – MM-MED-0064

WW1 Medal pair – British War Medal & Victory Medal (missing 1914-15 Star) awarded to Corporal ARTHUR ERNEST RADCLIFFE, 1^st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers – Killed in action 27^th March 1916 at ST ELOI, a significant and well publicised action

You are looking at WW1 medal pair, British War Medal and Victory Medal, awarded to Corporal 21290 ARTHUR ERNEST RADCLIFFE of the 1^st Battalion the Northumberland Fusiliers...........ARTHUR was also entitled to the 1914-15 Star, unfortunately missing.

The medals are inscribed ‘21290 CPL. A.E.RADCLIFFE. NORTH’D FUS.’

MEDAL NAMING ANOMALY - It is worth noting, before we consider the recipient himself, that there is an anomaly in the way the British War Medal has been impressed with the recipients details, in that the King’s head should be on display, forward facing, with the inscription around the rim readable when the medal is laid down and the King’s head facing upwards, but it isn’t, the naming around the rim has been carried out whilst the medal is upside down, as you can see from the comparison photograph provided.......Please note: The other two medals to which this pair are being compared are NOT included in this listing.

ARTHUR served with the 1^st Battalion the Northumberland Fusiliers, and he landed in France on the 13^th of July 1915, within just one month of the battalion’s involvement in the ‘First Attack on Bellewaarde’ (2-3 miles east of Ypres, Belgium), that took place on the 16^th of June 1915, and with devastating results, because the 1^st Battalion lost over 400 x officers and men in that single action alone....Battalions were usually made up of between 800 and 1000 men, so the loss of over 400 was significant, probably around half of the battalion’s strength.

Following Bellewaarde, the severely depleted battalion pulled back from the front line, to rest, recuperate and reorganise, and it is likely ARTHUR was part of a further draft of troops deployed from England to bolster the battalions strength again.

The 1^st Battalion were next in action in the Hooge area, from July to August 1915...HOOGE is notable for an event involving British tunnellers from the 175^th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers, who dug beneath the German lines and packed the tunnels with explosives, with the eventual detonation, on the 19^th of July, creating a hole in the earth measuring nearly 40 metres across, followed by an infantry assault that captured that strategically important piece of ground.....The 1^st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers were not part of the infantry assault, but they were in direct support of those troops who were........On the 30^th of July, so less than two weeks later, the enemy mounted a counter-attack on the area they had lost, unleashing flamethrowers (Flammenwerfer) with devastating consequences......The 1^st Battalion were not one of the units who came under attack from flamethrowers that day, but they did sustain casualties as a result of the associated enemy artillery bombardment. 

Towards the end of 1915, the 1^st Battalion remained in the area of the Ypres Salient, and went through the particularly harsh winter, and having to contend with, in addition to enemy attack, the cold and wet, floods, collapsing trenches, and associated medical conditions such as trench foot.

During the early part of 1916, there was an escalation in fighting in the area just south of Ypres, and the 1^st Battalion were directly involved in what was referred to as the ‘Actions of the Bluff’, where British and German troops struggled to take possession of a strategically important mound of earth created by the excavation of the nearby Ypres-Comines Canal, a piece of high ground that provided a clear view of the surrounding terrain.

As before, British Royal Engineer’s tunnellers managed to place explosives in 6 x large mines under enemy positions in the area of St Eloi, and on the 27^th of March 1916, the explosives were detonated, catching the German troops unawares, and the detonation was followed by the Northumberland Fusiliers attacking enemy positions, storming their trenches and taking many prisoners, an event that was celebrated not only by those troops involved, but by the public back home, who were provided with iconic photographs of British troops with captured German equipment, and with reference to the success of the ‘Fighting Fifth’, the nickname of the Northumberland Fusiliers in recognition of their original pre 1881 title of the 5^th Regiment of Foot, however, the fighting that followed was prolonged, lasting well into April, led to further loss of life on both sides, and the land that was captured eventually fell back into the hands of the enemy.

Sadly, Corporal ARTHUR RADCLIFFE was one of those killed in action at St Eloi on the 27^th of March 1916.....He was 31 years old at the time, and his body was never recovered, probably due to the area having been reshaped by the detonation of the explosives, and the subsequent ferocious German retaliatory artillery bombardment that took place, making it unsurprising that those killed in action were not identified.

He is commemorated at the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, famous as the memorial to those who were killed during the Ypres Offensive(s) whose bodies were never recovered or have no known grave.

He is also named within the Book of Remembrance at the Northumberland Fusiliers Museum.

ARTHUR RADCLIFFE, the son of ROBERT and ANNIE RADCLIFFE, was born on the 16th of September 1884 in the Parish of Thornhill in York, and he married HETTY CALVERT in 1906.

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