THE VICTORIA CROSS AND CAMPAIGN MEDALS AWARDED TO DRUM MAJOR WALTER RITCHIE, SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS, HAVE BEEN SOLD AT AUCTION BY SPINK OF LONDON |
---|
21 July 2022 |
The exceptional and important 'First Day of the Battle of the Somme' Victoria Cross awarded to Drum Major Walter Ritchie, 2nd Bn, Seaforth Highlanders, has been sold at a Spink auction on 21st July 2022 in London. The estimated sale price was between £240,000 and £280,000. The sale hammer price realised £360,000. The buyer of the Ritchie VC group was the Lord Ashcroft VC Collection.For the award of the Victoria Cross [ London Gazette, 9 September 1916 ], North of Beaumont Hamel, France, 1 July 1916, Drummer Walter Potter Ritchie, 2nd Bn, Seaforth Highlanders
For most conspicuous bravery and resource ( North of Beaumont Hamel ), when on his own initiative he stood on the parapet of an enemy trench, and, under heavy machine gun fire and bomb attacks, repeatedly sounded the "Charge" thereby rallying many men of various units who, having lost their leaders, were wavering and beginning to retire.
Walter Ritchie was invested with his Victoria Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace on the 25th November 1916.
Walter Ritchie died on the 9th December 1958 in Edinburgh and was cremated in the city's Warriston Crematorium. |
Iain Stewart, 21 July 2022