Medals & Coins, Arms & Armour - 17 May 2023
A very interesting family collection of medals
A very interesting family collection of medals, comprising:
The Great War Pair to Battle of Le Transloy fatal casualty 2nd Lieutenant Kenneth Struthers, 1/14 London Regiment (London Scottish): British War Medal 1914-20 (2 LIEUT. K STRUTHERS.), Victory Medal (2. LIEUT. K. STRUTHERS.); together with the Memorial Plaque issued in commemoration of this officer's death in action on the 7th October 1916 (KENNETH STRUTHERS), traces of mounting glue, otherwise extremely fine or nearly so; and a London Scottish Rifle Volunteers School of Arms silver prize medal (1907-8 K. STRUTHERS), good very fine. [4]
A Great War pair to Hilda Margaret Struthers, Voluntary Aid Detachment: British War Medal 1914-20 and Victory Medal (H. M. STRUTHERS. V.A.D.), traces of mounting glue, otherwise nearly extremely fine. [2]
Five medals named or attributable to Leslie Graham Struthers, British Red Cross and St John of Jerusalem, later Intelligence Corps: British War Medal 1914-20 and Victory Medal (L. G. STRUTHERS. B.R.C. & ST. J.J.), Defence Medal, 1939-45 War Medal, Italy: War Merit Cross, traces of mounting glue, otherwise good very fine or better, [5]; together with a mounted group of corresponding dress miniature medals, a leather ID disc, and medal ribbons.
Five Medals attributable to Cinematographer Ian Duncan Struthers, British Paramount News: 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, Italy Star, France and Germany Star, 1939-45 War Medal with Mention in Despatches emblem, traces of mounting glue, otherwise nearly extremely fine, [5]; together with a mounted group of corresponding dress miniature medals (Africa Star with 1st Army bar), and ribbon bars.
(Round medals 36mm diameter. Large plaque 121mm diameter.)
By descent through the family.
The first three recipients were siblings, born to George and Mary Denning Struthers in Staines and in Kensington. Kenneth was the eldest boy (27 in 1914) and entered France with the London Scottish 01/07/1916. He was killed in action three months later at the Battle of Le Transloy (part of the larger Battle of the Somme), when his battalion attacked and captured a number of German gun pits on the 7th of October. His elder sister Hilda and younger brother Leslie (a Quaker) both went to the Italian front to serve as medical volunteers and during the Second World War Leslie was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the Intelligence Corps in November 1940. Ian Duncan Struthers was born in Argentina in 1915 and began his career as a clapper boy at Sound City in 1933. He accompanied the Allied forces in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and in the liberation of Northern Europe, filming many momentous occasions including the liberation of Caen and Charles De Gaulle's entry into Paris. He appeared in the 1943 documentary 'Cameramen at War'.