An ebay bargain

[Terry]

We often hear complaints about ebay and how it is driving prices upward. If you are careful, however, you can still find bargains.

I have just won a war and victory medal pair to 414806 Private George Edward, 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles. The price was US $69.00 (about 38 pounds). Now this price, about Cdn $91.00, is a very reasonable amount to pay for a pair to a CEF fighting battalion. Normally they are in the Cdn $125.00-$150.00 range.

In this case however, Pte. Edward was serving under a name not his own. He was really Ernest Edward George. On 14 Sept.,1916 his unit assaulted and captured a German trench. In the process, it suffered 279 casualties, including Pte. George Edward, killed in action. His CWGC entry is under his real name with the notation served as Edwards (sic). CEF KIA pairs now go for around Cdn $250.00 and up depending on the unit.

Why had he enlisted under a different name? Who knows?

Regardless, finding a casualty group for less than forty pounds stands out as a bargain day for me!

[David_Bluestein]

Terry,

You've done it again! Play your lotto numbers today my friend.

Enjoy the pair, I'm sure there is a story to be told.

David

[Neil Burns]

Hi Terry,

Nice score, please clue us in once you get his full record.

Take care,

Neil

[chris.wight]

Congratulations Terry!

Is this your first set for the 5th CMR? I'm working my way through their war diary at the present, quite interesting.

[Terry]

Hi Chris,

Actually I have five 5CMR groups in my collection, all of them interesting for different reasons:

1. Trio to 110030 Pte.T.H.Baxter, original 5CMR; Wounded 25 Nov.,1915

2. Pair & Memorial Cross to 710015 Pte.A.E.Sutton, orig. 104 Bn.; Killed in

Action 4 Oct.,1918

3. Pair to 1031037 Pte.F.C.Sutton (brother of above), orig. 236 Bn.; Wounded in Action 26 Aug.,1918 Arras

4. Pair plus CVSM & War Medal WW2 to 710052 Pte.E.Stairs, orig. 104 Bn.; Deserter - Court Martial, Sentenced to be Shot by firing squad; later remitted & back to unit; Wounded in Action 31 Aug.,1918 World War Two - Veteran's Guard

5. The pair to our friend George/Edward

I also have the pair to a third Sutton brother, 335107 Gnr.W.G.Sutton, 31st Fd Bty.,CFA (an artillery unit also in the 3rd Division).

[chris.wight]

Thanks Terry. You do have an interesting collection to the 5th. Pte Stairs must have had quite an experience coming close to the firing squad.

I haven't seen too many medals on Ebay to them. I did see a nice group several months back, and then this week there was the Vimy Memorial Cross to Pte Albert Doherty which didn't make the reserve.

Pte Baxter has an interesting background. Being a weaver and since he signed up in Magog, he would have worked at the Dominion Textile plant in Magog (just at the side of Lake Memphramagog - the plant is still there though no longer known as D.T. He would probably still recognize the place).

[Terry]

Chris,

Stairs was a very lucky man. Having joined 5CMR on 29 Nov.,1916, he first went AWOL 18-22 April,1917, when the unit was moving up to the front line again. He was given four months imprisonment. bumped down to 28 days FP No.1.

He obviously didn't learn from his experience. He was again under arrest in August, having gone absent from 19-24 Aug., and charged with desertion. This time he received the death sentence, but it was then commuted to five years penal servitude by General Horne.

Stairs was sent to No.7 Military Prison on 26 Oct.,1917, but oddly within a month the sentence was reduced to two years! Then it was suspended from 12 May,1918, and his file has the entry "Rejoined from prison 15 April 1918".

He ended up back with his battalion soon after and is listed as missing after action 26 Aug.,1918;then GSW Left Hand on 31 August. (I was always a bit suspicious of his wound; it was a gun shot wound to the small finger of the left hand).

He joined up again in August,1940 in the Veteran's Guard, and ironically was often employed escorting prisoners! He was finally discharged on 12 Sept.,1945.

A total of 216 Canadians received the death sentence in World War One, although only 25 were actually executed. I picked up this medal group in a trade for a couple of BUrma Stars and some cap badges in 2002, and was really surprised when his file reached me.

[chris.wight]

Terry, you came off best in the trade. You just never know what you'll find out until you see the files, do you.

Thanks for the details.

[Terry]

Since my first post on this thread, I have been examining the 5CMR war diary, as I wondered why my fellow George Edward (aka Ernest Edward George) is listed as killed on 14 Sept.,1916, while the battalion didn't take part in the battle at Courcelette until the next morning (the 15th). The diary entry for the 14th mentions by name five casualties (all wounded) suffered while relieving another unit in the early morning; later, it describes a heavy German bombardment in the evening which put a Lewis gun and its entire crew out of action. While the casualties are not named, it seems logical to assume that Edward was killed at this time, rather than in assault the next day.