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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

A Victoria Cross awarded to a Scottish bugler on the first day of the Battle of the Somme has sold for £446,000.


sunflower

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A Victoria Cross awarded to a Scottish bugler on the first day of the Battle of the Somme has sold for £446,000.

Drummer Walter Ritchie, who was born in Glasgow in 1892, mounted the parapet of an enemy trench near Beaumont Hamel and continually sounded the charge while being peppered by bombs and machinegun fire.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/victoria-cross-for-bugler-who-put-head-above-parapet-fetches-446-000-9rqfb8xg5

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There are fewer and fewer in private ownership that will ever come on the market. These are objects in great demand with a very limited supply.

 

A medal collecting friend in the early 80s had three British WW1 VC groups. He would have loved an Australian group but that was price impossible at the time, so his collection had the "cheap. common VCs" They each cost him the equivalent of a year of my salary at the time as a new graduate engineer. The price above is a lot more than a new graduate is earning here today, probably by a factor of 10.

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Walter Ritchie was a former member of the 44th Glasgow Company of The Boys' Brigade, and the first former member from Scotland to be awarded the VC.

He's commemorated in the Boys' Brigade Memorial Garden at the National Memorial Arboretum. 

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54 minutes ago, The Scorer said:

Walter Ritchie was a former member of the 44th Glasgow Company of The Boys' Brigade, and the first former member from Scotland to be awarded the VC.

He's commemorated in the Boys' Brigade Memorial Garden at the National Memorial Arboretum. 

thanks for that interesting bit of info.. I have still to visit the National Memorial Arboretum

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12 minutes ago, sunflower said:

thanks for that interesting bit of info.. I have still to visit the National Memorial Arboretum

It is very much worth a visit. However, you should allow for a full day visit if you can, as there's a lot of things to see, and they're being added to all the time. 

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