Noonans Mayfair
Lot 458
Chepstow Great War Tribute Medal, gold and enamels, 32mm x 26mm, gold and enamel (9ct., 8.98g), hallmarks for Birmingham 1919, the obverse with central shield device with enamelled crowned portcullis crest of Chepstow Town, quartered in pale blue and red enamel, with ‘Welcome Home To Chepstow’ on two dark blue enamelled scrolls above and below, the whole surmounted by a King’s Crown, the reverse with indented lettering (name engraved) ‘Presented to I. S. Priest In Commemoration of service rendered to his country in the Great War 1914-1919’, with integral loop and small ring suspension, extremely fine £160-£200 --- Ivor Sydney Priest was born in Chepstow, Monmouthshire in 1893. During the Great War he served as 1544 Private in the 1st Battalion, Monmouthshire Regiment, landing in France in February 1915. He was wounded and taken prisoner of War on ‘Monmouthshires Black Day’, 8 May 1915, in the Defence of Frezenberg Ridge. He was repatriated by the Germans in September 1915 and formally discharged from the army in January 1916. He was entitled to a 1914-15 Star trio and a Silver War Badge number 86188. He later resided at Brightlingsea, Essex, and died there in April 1974. Prior to the Great War he had been a member of Chepstow Rugby Club, and an article on his repatriation together with a photograph appeared in the South Wales Weekly Argus of 11 September 1915.