WW1 medal trio - 1914-15 Star, British War Medal & Victory Medal – Gunner, later 2nd Lieutenant FRANK VICTOR TILSLEY – Royal Garrison Artillery

Reference: MM-MED-0004

You are looking at a trio of WW1 medals awarded to FRANK VICTOR TILSLEY as follows:

·      1914-15 Star inscribed ‘1453 GNR. F.V.TILSLEY. R.G.A.’

·      Victory Medal & British War Medal inscribed ‘2.LIEUT. F.V.TILSLEY.’

FRANK VERNON TILSLEY, the son of CLIFFORD and ALICE TILSLEY, was born on the 17^th of November 1891 at Longsight in Manchester.

Gunner 1453 of the London Brigade Royal Garrison Artillery (R.G.A) (Territorial Force) appears in the medal records as being entitled to the 1914-15 Star, with his date of entry into the France and Flanders theatre of war dated the 5^th of November 1915, with “Commd.RGA(SR) 17-9-17” recorded in the remarks section, which coincides with his promotion from Gunner to 2^nd Lieutenant.

It appears that the Territorial Force to which FRANK belonged had their own numbering system, based on when a soldier joined, so the first one to join a unit was service number 1, the thousandth 1000 and so on, and that applied to all units, so there may have been many Territorial Force soldiers with the service number 1000.......Where FRANK is concerned, with a service number 1453, then it is likely he joined the TF within only a few years of its creation in 1908, but prior to the outbreak of WW1.

As to which RGA unit he joined, this cannot be established, however, the London Heavy Brigade RGA, a Territorial Force unit raised in 1908, of its component sub-units at the outbreak of war, namely the 1/1st, 1/2^nd, 2/1^st and 2/2^nd London Heavy Battery(s), only the 1/2^nd Battery landed in France prior to the 5^th of November 1915, when FRANK entered that theatre of war according to his medal record, but whether he was a member of the 1/2^nd Battery is not known, and other artillery units landed in France at the same time.

On the 17^th of September 1917, according to the London Gazette, FRANK was promoted from being an Officer Cadet to a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery. From the rank of Gunner to 2^nd Lt in such a short period of time, it appears that FRANK had shown leadership qualities and was therefore worthy of becoming an officer.

It appears that after the War, FRANK returned to being a reservist officer with the RGA, because on the 19^th of March 1920, he travelled with his parents aboard the ‘Nankin’ destined for Bombay, and he and his father were both described as commercial travellers by profession, but he then appears in the 1921 Census as a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, recorded in tented accommodation at Wormwood Scrubs in London, and with the address further recorded as ‘C’ Company 11^th London Regiment, and he is listed alongside members of the 11^th, but at the end of the list along with other officers from the Rifle Brigade.

And FRANK appears in other travel records. In 1924, he and his wife are listed as passengers aboard the ‘Morvada’, destined for Karachi, with their British address recorded as 143 Etchingham Park Road in Finchley, and FRANK’S profession as commercial traveller.

In 1939, FRANK and his wife LOUISA G TILSLEY were living at 38 Claremont Park in Finchley, and he was recorded as the proprietor of ‘Tilsley and Lewis’, an Eastern Merchant company that was believed to have been located in Holborn.

FRANK died on the 27^th of April 1956, having been found collapsed at Worthing Golf Club.

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

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