A Great War M.M. awarded to Pioneer B. T. Hird, 231st 'Doncaster's Own' Company, Royal...

A Great War M.M. awarded to Pioneer B. T. Hird, 231st ‘Doncaster's Own’ Company, Royal Engineers, who was the first man raised by the Corporation to be decorated for gallantry after attempting to help a severely wounded soldier trapped in the debris of a shelled cafe Military Medal, G.V.R. (99253 Pnr: B. T. Hird. 231/Fd: Co: R.E.) very fine £200-£240 --- M.M. London Gazette 21 October 1916. The Eckington, Woodhouse & Staveley Express of 5 October 1935, states: ‘On August 16th, 1916, a shell burst on an estaminet. Pioneer Hird ran to the spot and saw a soldier, who was badly wounded, partially hanging through the first floor window frame. Pioneer Hird obtained a plank and propped it against the side of the building which was leaning towards the road and tottering. He climbed the plank and helped the wounded man. On reaching the man Hird found he was bound fast by the leg on the inside of the building. Hird made the man as comfortable as he possibly could and helped him until assistance arrived from inside the wrecked building. A second shell burst quite close whilst Pioneer Hird was on the plank and half an hour later the whole structure collapsed. Unfortunately, the wounded man died later that night.’ Ben Thompson Hird was born in Skipton in 1869 and is recorded in 1901 as a married man with three sons, and employed at a wagon works in Doncaster. Affectionately known at the time as 'Dare Devil' Hird on account of his robust tactics and fearless play on the field for the Doncaster Rugby Football Club, he was one of over 1,500 local men to answer the call of the Doncaster Corporation and Northern Command and sign up for the 224th, 229th and 231st Companies of the Royal Engineers. Sent to Bordon Camp for training, these volunteers crossed in May 1916 from Southampton to Havre, going into the line at Colonne just weeks before the opening exchanges of the Battle of the Somme.  Described by the Leeds Mercury of 2 September 1916 as 'well over military age', Hird soon distinguished himself on the Western Front and was feted back home by the Mayor of Doncaster (Councillor S. Balmforth) upon news of the M.M.: ‘He is the first man of the “Doncaster's Own” to receive any distinction of this kind, and I can assure you it was well-merited!’  Transferred to Dormart-en-Ponthien, then the Racour Sector to the north of Peronne, the 231st Company was forced to dig in during the winter of 1916-17 and was then heavily engaged in holding the line from Headecourt, through Villers Gouzlan and Villers Pluich until mid-October 1917. Placed in forward positions prior to the attack on Cambrai on 20 November 1917, the 231st fought at Bourlon Wood, Flesquiers, Grandecourt and Havrincourt; on 26 November 1917 they lost their O.C., Major Frederick Henry Johnson, V.C., shot dead by a sniper whilst on reconnaissance. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph later noted the 231st being relieved on 6 December 1917, 'having gone through a terrible strain'. Withdrawn to St. Leger and Ervillers for the purpose of support, the survivors were flung into the fray on 21 March 1918 as infantry in a desperate attempt to plug the line on the opening day of the German Spring Offensive; few answered roll call just days later. Discharged on 1 February 1919, Hird returned home to Abel Street in Doncaster and took employment at Silverwood Colliery. Incapacitated by an accident at work on 30 July 1928, he later died of a heart attack in October 1935 whilst playing dominoes at the Unemployment Hut, Thrybergh.