Three: Lieutenant V. R. W. Johnson, Wiltshire Regiment, who was mortally wounded on the West...

Three: Lieutenant V. R. W. Johnson, Wiltshire Regiment, who was mortally wounded on the Western Front in March 1915
1914 Star, with clasp (2 Lieut. V. R. W. Johnson, Wilts. R.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. V. R. W. Johnson) good very fine or better (3) £500-£700 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Victor Reginald William Johnson was born in July 1894, the son of a ‘highly respected tradesman’ from Reading, and was educated at the Kendrick School and University College, Reading, where he was a member of the O.T.C.

Commissioned in the 3rd Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, on the outbreak of hostilities, he was attached to the 1st Battalion, Devonshire Regiment on entering the French theatre of War on 23 October 1914, in which capacity he remained employed until transferring to the 2nd Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, in mid-February 1915, a period that witnessed him present in the fighting around Festubert and being hospitalised in late December 1914 (the 1/Devons war diary refers).

As stated, Johnson joined the 2nd Wiltshires in mid-February 1915 but, having emerged unscathed from the ferocious fighting at Neuve Chapelle in the following month, was mortally wounded on the 28, while commanding ‘A’ Company. Captain E. Makin wrote to the recipient’s father in the following terms:

‘I regret to announce to you that your son was killed in the trenches yesterday afternoon. He was hit through the back of the head by a rifle bullet. Our Medical Officer happened to be on the spot at the time and I can assure you that everything was done that was possible to save him. The Medical Officer, who is a very clever doctor, tried to operate almost at once, but found it was useless, and your son died about two hours afterwards.

He was buried by our Chaplain at 3 p.m. this afternoon. Only my Adjutant, Captain Ponsford, and myself were able to be present, with some of the regimental stretcher bearers, as the other officers could not leave their duty in the trenches.

His loss is not only a personal loss, but I think he would have become a very good officer, and his death is a loss to the whole Army. He is buried besides two other officers. Please allow me to express my sympathy with you at your great loss, and that of the whole regiment.’

Johnson, ‘an exceedingly smart young fellow’ and of ‘genial disposition’, was 20 years old when he died, and is buried in the Royal Irish Rifles Graveyard, Laventie. Sold with including copied articles from local newspapers featuring his news from the front and copied portrait photograph taken from Berkshire at War.