A single-owner collection of letters, document, books and medals relating to Crimean War sold for more than £7,000 at a successful auction in Shrewsbury last week.
03/03/2025
The collection, which belonged to a Shropshire collector, went under the hammer at Halls Fine Art’s successful militaria, naval and aviation auction.
Top price in the collection was £1,600 for a collection of letters by veterinary surgeon Matthew J. Harpley, of the Royal Artillery, including a first-hand account of the Charge of the Light Brigade on October 28, 1854.
Harpley describes the unfolding of the infamous charge, noting the tragic loss suffered by the Light Brigade: “800 sabres charged, 190 only returned, the remainder being killed, wounded or taken Prisoner.”
He also detailed the miscommunication that led to this disastrous attack during the Battle of Balaclava and the immediate aftermath.
The final part of a huge press photography collection from the Second World War achieved a 100 per cent sell rate and realised £5,850.
Another highlight of the auction was a rare, camouflaged suit made for a British secret agent to be parachuted behind enemy lines in Europe during the Second World War, which sold for £1,800.
The British Special Operations Executive ‘striptease’ suit, dated 1942, rarely survived as they were normally buried by the agent when he landed. Behind enemy lines, the agents would gather intelligence, co-ordinate local resistance and establish communications networks.
A poignant First World War Killed In Action medal group, with a death plaque and related letters, relating to Corporal George Jay, of Military Foot Police, No. 3 Traffic Control Company, sold for £1,100.
The group included the Military Medal which was awarded to Corporal Jay for bravery whilst on traffic duty on June 5, 1917, when a lorry convoy carrying gas cylinders was hit. He died on March 24, 1918, aged 38, after being severely wounded and was buried with full honours in Ypres Reservoir Cemetery.
A medal group awarded to a father and son during the Boer, Korean and First World Wars and accompanied by extensive supporting documentation, photographs and related items, sold for £800.
The collection related to Private Henry John Lawrence, of Sussex Regiment and his son, Company Sergeant Major Francis John De Moulan Lawrence, of the Sussex and Royal Leicestershire Regiments and Sherwood Foresters, who was awarded an MBE in 1959.
Three medals awarded to the first soldier from the King's Shropshire Light Infantry 6th Battalion killed in action during the First World War sold for £180.
The medal trio and death plaque related to Private Albert Jones, who was born in 1891 at Rushbury, near Munslow, Craven Arms, who was in France for only three weeks before he was killed at the age of 24.
The 6th Service Battalion, formed by companies at different towns in Shropshire, became a unit of the 60th Brigade, which left for Folkestone, en route to Boulogne, on July 21/22, 1915, entrained. Private Jones was killed in action on August 13, 1915.
“Interest was strong across the board with great demand for fresh-to-market medal groups with family provenance alongside traditional collector-formed multiple lot consignments,” said Caroline Dennard, Halls Fine Art’s militaria specialist.
Caroline is now welcoming entries for the company’s next militaria auction on 25th August. She can be contacted at Halls Fine Art on Tel: 01743 450700 or by emailing carolined@hallsgb.com
Militaria Specialist
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