THE VICTORIA CROSS AND CAMPAIGN MEDAL AWARDED TO SERGEANT JAMES FIRTH, 1ST BN, DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S REGIMENT, HAVE BEEN SOLD AT AUCTION BY SPINK OF LONDON.
20 October 1999


( select to enlarge )
Medal entitlement of Sergeant James Firth,
1st Bn, Duke of Wellington's Regiment

  • Victoria Cross
  • Queen's South Africa Medal ( 1899-1902 )
    • 1 clasp:
    • "Cape Colony"


The Victoria Cross and campaign medal awarded to Sergeant James Firth, 1st Bn, Duke of Wellington's ( West Riding ) Regiment, have been sold at auction by Spink of London. The sale hammer price realised £38,000. The VC group was purchased by the Michael Ashcroft Trust the holding institution for the Lord Ashcroft VC Collection and has gone on display in the Imperial War Museum's Lord Ashcroft Gallery.


For the award of the Victoria Cross

[ London Gazette, 11 June 1901 ], Plewman's Farm, Nr Arundle, South Africa, 24 February 1900, Sergeant James Firth, 1st Bn, Duke of Wellington's ( West Riding ) Regiment.

During the action at Plewman’s Farm, near Arundel, Cape Colony, on the 24th February 1900, Lance-Corporal Blackman having been wounded and lying exposed to a hot fire at a range of from four to five hundred yards, Sergeant Firth picked him up and carried him to cover.

Later in the day, when the enemy had advanced to within a short distance of the firing line, Second Lieutenant Wilson being dangerously wounded and in a most exposed position Sergeant Firth carried him over the crest of a ridge, which was being held by the troops, to shelter, and was himself shot through the nose and eye whilst doing so.

James Firth was invested with his Victoria Cross by King Edward VII at St James' Palace on the 25 July 1901.


James Firth died on the 29th May 1921 in Sheffield and was buried in the city's Burngreave Cemetery.

Acquisitions

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Iain Stewart, 20 October 1999