An interesting 1914 Star Trio awarded to Major H. F. Woodgate, Railway Transport...

An interesting 1914 Star Trio awarded to Major H. F. Woodgate, Railway Transport Establishment, who played international cricket for Ireland and jointly patented what was believed to have been the first automatic rifle, in 1894 1914 Star (Major H. F. Woodgate. R.T.E.); British War and Victory Medals (Major H. F. Woodgate.) contact marks, the second with an official correction to the second initial and slightly polished, otherwise nearly very fine (3) £240-£280 --- Herbert Ferdinand Woodgate was born in Hythe, Hampshire on 28 February 1864. He was commissioned from the Royal Military Academy into the South Wales Borderers on 6 February 1885. On 9 January 1894, together with William Griffiths, he patented a ‘recoil operated gun’, which was tested by the British Army but deemed unsuitable for production. A keen cricketeer, he was selected to play for Ireland against Scotland in August 1888. Later, despite the loss of investors, he continued his endeavours alone, undaunted in his efforts to produce a suitable automatic rifle, but his ‘Woodgate Rifle’ prototype was again rejected in 1900. He served in South Africa with his regiment during the Boer War and was awarded a Queen’s South Africa Medal with clasps for Cape Colony, Transvaal, and Orange Free State. Later recalled for service during the Great War, he was appointed Honorary Major on 27 September 1914 and served on the Western Front with the Railway Transport Establishment from 6 October 1914. He died in Chelsea, London, around March 1943. Sold with copied medal roll extracts and copied research.