AN HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT & COMPLETE "PLOEGSTEERT" "PRUSSIAN GUARD ATTACK" 18th NOV 1914 CASUALTY. 1914 Star & Bar Trio. 8765. Pte G.W. BINES 2/Essex Rgt. SWB, Dog Tags,Mary Box & Extensive Original Papers
AN HISTORIC, IMPORTANT & COMPLETE,(PLOEGSTEERT WOOD) "PRUSSIAN GUARD ATTACK" CASUALTY, of 18th NOVEMBER 1914. 1914 STAR & BAR TRIO, To:8765. Pte G.A. BINES. 2nd ESSEX REGt (To France 22nd August 1914)..Sustained Three Severe Wounds and only in the war for 12 weeks. With Original Cap Badge, Silver War Badge, (81979)& Dog Tag on its original issued string. Mary Box with one cigarette & packet with a SUPER RARE King & Queen 'casualty wording' Christmas Card. Also Including Extensive Original Official Wounded Notification Papers & other military papers, including Soldiers Small Book & Two Original Discharge & Character Velums. Army Education Certificate. Original issue box & registered envelope for the pair with postmark 5th August 1921. Also an original sepia tone photograph of Mr Bines with his son who are shown with their bicycles in the rear garden of the family home at 56 St Leonard's Road, Poplar, London E14. (The address still exists, just off the East India Dock Road) Under magnification one can clearly see that Mr Bines had sustained a serious injury to the knuckle at the base of the little finger on his right hand which still exhibited a round deformity at the time the picture was taken (c,1925). After discharge from the army in 1915 he became a local public parks keeper in his local Poplar Recreation Ground in South London from whom there is a letter of reference dated 27th August 1918, stating that he had already given "honest & industrious service & every satisfaction, having served the council for two years".Interestingly, the brass button stick shown in the composite picture above is stamped with the 'last three' service numbers '721' of another Essex Regt soldier, 8(721) of 3Ex. This man has turned out to be 8721. Pte S.A. HORSNAIL who clearly transferred to 2/Essex as his MIC is a virtual duplicate of Bines' card who also arrived in France with 2nd Essex on 22nd August 1914. Sid Horsnail was also wounded on the same day as George Bines. Horsnail served in the Metropolitan Police from about 1915 /16. The men clearly knew each other well.
This is a really excellent & unusually complete assembly to an early casualty and is a "MUST HAVE" for the serious Esssx Regt collector. Medals are EF with original surfaces on 'mint' original ribbons. £795