WW1 Medal pair (entitled to trio - 1914-15 Star missing) – British War Medal & Victory Medal awarded to Private J TEES of the 7th Battalion the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) – Underage soldier – wounded at GALLIPOLI

Stock Reference – MM-MED-0065

WW1 Medal pair (entitled to trio - 1914-15 Star missing) – British War Medal & Victory Medal awarded to Private J TEES of the 7^th Battalion the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) – Underage soldier – wounded at GALLIPOLI

You are looking at WW1 medal pair, British War Medal and Victory Medal, awarded to Private 2182 JOHN TEES of the 7^th Battalion the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)....JOHN was also awarded the 1914-15 Star, unfortunately missing......His service number was changed to 265613 in the army wide renumbering that took place in 1917.

The medals are inscribed ‘2182 PTE J.TEES. SCO.RIF,’

JOHN TEES, the son of WILLIAM TEES of 45 Errol Street in Glasgow, was born c1895, and enlisted into the 7^th Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) on the 6^th of January 1915, at the age of 19 years and 1 month according to his service record, although it has since been established that he was in fact only 16 years and 4 months old...........The minimum age for entry into the Territorial Force at the time was 17 years, and there were restrictions on those under the age of 19 years being allowed to serve overseas, so by claiming to be 19 years and 1 month old, JOHN was effectively putting himself into a position where he could travel with his battalion into a theatre of war.

Having enlisted in the January, in the May, and having established that he was only 16 years old, JOHN sailed for Gallipoli, arriving there, via Egypt, on the 14^th of June, a date that matches the one recorded for him on his medal record.

At Gallipoli, the 7^th Battalion were in action at ‘Gully Ravine’ (June 1915), during which they suffered heavy losses, and having merged with the 1/8^th Battalion on a temporary basis, they were action again at Achi Baba Nullah (July 1915) and at Krithia Nullahs (December 1915).

According to his service record, JOHN served at Gallipoli until the 19^th of November 1915, and he was at home from the 20^th of November, and there is an article in The Scotsman newspaper dated the 6^th of December 1915, stating, quote, “about 200 wounded officers and men from the Dardanelles arrived in Glasgow on Saturday night and were taken to Bellahouston Hospital and Merryflats Combination Hospital”, with the list of men that followed including 2182 J TEES of the 7^th Battalion who was taken to the Merryflats hospital (War Hospital at Govan, Glasgow).....It appears, with the delay in reporting between events on the front line and the public back home being informed of them, that the wounded soldiers referred to in the newspaper article arrived back home on the 20^th of November, which was a Saturday, and is the date when JOHN was back home according to his service record.

As to when JOHN was wounded, this cannot be established within the available records, but it is likely his entry into the Gallipoli medical system started in the October 1915, and this was when the 7^th Battalion were sustaining casualties at Krithia Vineyard, and during a time when the British and Turkish forces were tunnelling under each other’s lines and detonating explosives, usually backed up by grenade and artillery attack.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission provides the names of around 36 men of the 7^th/8^th Battalion who were killed in action, and taking into account the length of time it would take for JOHN to have sustained a wound, been evacuated to a Casualty / Beach Clearing Station, further removal to hospital ship, probably to another location such as Mudros, Alexandria, Cairo, then the seaborn journey back to England, then it is likely he sustained his injury(s) over the period the 20^th to the 29^th of October 1915, when we know members of the 7^th and 8^th were killed, possibly even earlier, when we know the battalion was in the Krithia Vineyard and Gully Ravine area and were under constant attack from snipers, shrapnel burst and trench incursions.    

And the nature and extent of injury cannot be established either, although JOHN was classed as having been at home from the 20^th of November 1915 to the 4^th of September 1916, but was back serving with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on the 5^th of September, so, with that being a period of over 9 x months, his injury and recovery appears to have had a substantial impact on his military service.

In the January of 1916, whilst JOHN was back in Glasgow, the 7^th/8^th Battalion were evacuated from Gallipoli, to Mudros initially, then onward to Egypt where they operated in the area of the Suez Canal, and in the February of 1916, the 2 x battalions separated and the 7^th Battalion independent again.......JOHN returned to his battalion on the 4^th of September 1916, when they were in the Sinai area, and we know the 7^th Battalion Scottish Rifles were involved in the 1^st (March 1917), 2^nd (April 1917) and 3^rd Battles of Gaza (October-November 1917), and other offensives including the Capture of Jerusalem (November-December 1917).

In the April of 1918, JOHN and the 7^th Battalion left the Mediterranean theatre of war and landed at Marseilles on the 17^th of Apri 1918, so shortly after the German Spring Offensive in the March and at a time when British and allied forces were effectively regrouping, and the battalion were originally operating near to Abbeville, before moving to the Vimy area (May-July 1918), and they were involved in the final offensives of 1918, including the Second Battle of Albert (August), the Battle of the Scarpe (August), the Drocourt-Queant Line (September) and the Battle of Canal-du-Nord (September), before advancing into Belgium and the Mons area by Armistice on the 11^th of November.  

JOHN TEES was disembodied on the 18^th of March 1919.

As suggested earlier, according to his service record, JOHN TEES was 19 years and 1 month old when he enlisted into the 7^th Battalion Scottish Rifles on the 6^th of January 1915, which would indicate he was born in 1895, and his father was WILLIAM TEES of 45 Errol Street in Glasgow, with JOHN’S service record also providing the address 21 Errol Street.

It has been established, however, that he was JOHN MAIDEN TEES, the son of WILLIAM TEES and MARY (formerly MAIDEN), and he was born on the 5^th of September 1898 at 54 South Wellington Street in Glasgow, an address at which the TEES family were living in 1901, according to the census record for that year, and there is further confirmation of connection to the Errol Street address because this is where JOHN’S mother MARY TEES died on the 11^th of February 1915(findagrave.com).   

Having established JOHN’S true date of birth, it is clear he enlisted into the 7^th Battalion the Scottish Rifles whilst underage, whilst he was only sixteen years old, and not 19 years and 1 month old as claimed.

SELLER NOTE = These medals came without ribbons and new ones have been provided.

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