War Medals

LIEUTENANT EDWARD S. CANNON, 1/9TH. HAMPSHIRE REGIMENT

British War Medal 1914-18 Victory Medal 1914-19 (Lieut.); Territorial Force War Medal 1914-19 (2.Lieut. Hamps.R.) : (EDWARD S. CANNON - Initially served as a Sergeant with the 9th.Cyclist Bn. Hampshire Regiment (TF) which on 5 August 1914 was mobilised and sent to war stations to protect the East Coast against possible German invasion. In October 1914 it returned to the South for coast duty. In November 1915 it converted to an Infantry Battalion and was ordered to mobilise at Chilseldon for service in East Africa. This was later changed to Egypt, then France but finally ordered to proceed to India and sailed from Devonport in tthe S.S.'Cerramic' on 4 February 1916. Arrived at Bombay on 25 February 1916 and proceeded to Bangalore for training. In December 1916 the Battalion was ordered to proceed to the North-West Frontier as part of the new 16th.Indian Division. In April 1917 the Battalion was mobilised for the Waziristan Expedittion but did not proceed. On 1 July 1917, the recipient was granted a Commission as Second-Lieutenant and remained with the Battalion, which in March 1918 spent three weeks in the Himalayas before being ordered down to the plains and sent to Ambala. In October 1918 the Battalion was again mobilised on this occasion to join the Canadian Expeditionary Force to Siberia, Russia, and landed at Vladivostock on 28 November 1918. Two weeks later it proceeded to Omsk a distance of some four thousand miles along the Trans-Siiberian Railway, the men travelling in box trucks which had been roofed in and given a stove, the journey lasting for twenty-three days, and with temperatures at 20-30 degrees below zero. On 7 January 1919, the Battalion arrived at Omsk where it was to remain all winter, with the temperature at times falling to 50 degrees below zero, four thousand miles from the nearest base and dependent upon Vladivostock for all supplies and reinforcements. In April 1919 all Canadian troops were evacuated by the Canadian Government, leaving 1/9th. Hampshire Regiment and 25th. Middlesex Regiment as the only British troops in Siberia. In May 1919 the Battalion proceeded to Ekaterinburg but were forced to evacuate the town owing to the rapid advance of Bolshevik forces. On 1 November 1919 the Battalion finally left Russia aboard the S.S.'Monteagle' bound for Vancouver, Canada. The Battalion arrived back at Southampton aboard the SS.'Tunisian' on 5 December 1919 and was disbanded the same day. The recipient's medals were sent to him on 17 February 1926.) Sold with medal verification, copy Army List entry, other related research and a corresponding set of miniature awards. Officers of the thirty-six Battalions of the Hampshire Regiment that served in the Great War received a combined total of just seventy-eight Territorial Force War Medals, this award is therefore extremely scarce. All mounted on original silk ribbons EF - £895