A 1919 ‘North Russia’ M.C. group of six awarded to Major, late Lance Corporal, W. G. Butteriss M.M., [Order of St. Anne, 3rd Class], 8th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment, attached 13th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment

 Military Cross (G.V.R), reverse period engraved ‘2nd Lt. W. G. BUTTERISS: LEICS REGT.’, last ‘s’ of surname corrected; Military Medal (G.V.R.) renamed 13234 PTE W. G. BUTTERISS, LEIC: R.; 1914-15 Star, partially renamed 13234 Pte W. G. BUTTERISS, LEIC: R.; British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. device affixed to Victory ribbon, impressed named 2. LIEUT. W. G. BUTTERISS; Defence and War Medals 1939-45 unnamed as issued. Court mounted for display they come with original typed citation for the award of the recipient’s M.C., signed by Major General W. E. Ironside, Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces, Archangel, this mounted on card; 2 photographic images of recipient - one in uniform wearing his medals, MIC, medal rolls, London gazette extracts and research.

M.C. London Gazette 15/7/1919

(Near Bolshie Ozerki) ‘On 23rd March, 1919, he led his platoon as advanced guard commander with energy and decision. When less experienced troops were temporarily thrown into confusion under heavy fire he continued to advance his platoon and forced the enemy to quit their position. He then by his example and leadership gave the greatest help in restoring the situation until it was possible to continue the advance. He showed great gallantry and devotion to duty.’ The citation included with the lot also adds the following to the above: ‘During the trying conditions of the next week, he and his men were an example to all the troops under my [Ironside] command and in the actions of March 31 - April 2nd, the steady defence put up on the advanced flank post for which Lieut Butteriss was responsible prevented the enemy piercing our exposed flank’.

Military Medal. London Gazette 8/1/1917.

Order of St. Anne, 3rd Class with Swords (Russian). London Gazette 15/7/1919

Major Walter Butteris was born in Uppingham in 1896. He was educated at Melton Mowbray Grammar School, he was a keen sportsman and a member of the local scout troop, on 11.7.1911 taking part in the mass rally of nearly 40,000 Boy Scouts in front of HM King George V at Windsor Castle.

He was working a bricklayer (his family were builders) when the Great War broke out, and he enlisted in the Army Reserve on 5.9.1914 and  being posted to ‘A’ Company 8th Battalion The Leicestershire Regiment. He was quickly promoted to Lance Corporal two month later.

He landed in France with the battalion on 29/7/1915 who were part of the 110th Brigade, 37th Division. Re reverted to Private at his own request on 28/6/1916.

He was awarded the Military Medal for his part in the attack on Gueudecourt (Somme) on 25-26.9.1916. During the attack two battalions of the 110th Brigade on the left of the division, were caught by a German counter-barrage but found a gap in the defences of Bavarian Infantry Regiment 13, attacked the II Battalion from the rear and took Goat Trench. As the barrage stopped, the advance to the second objective was resumed, through well-cut wire but machine-gun fire from the right caused many casualties and stopped the advance short of Gird Trench. The forward troops were reorganised, and a runner sent back to call on the reserve companies was wounded en route and the message was not delivered. The 9th Leicester formed a defensive flank along a sunken part of 'Watling Street' (the Ginchy–Gueudecourt road) on the right flank. A small number of troops of the 8th Leicester, who had got into Gird Trench held on and gained touch with the 165th Brigade of the 55th Division, which had taken Gird Trench in its area early in the afternoon.

He was mentioned in despatches and awarded the Military Medal. This was presented to him by General French just outside Ypres. In November 1916. He was promoted again to unpaid Lance Corporal in December 1916.

 A year later 19.10.1917 he was posted to the 3rd Bn in England and the following month joined 8th Officer Cadet Battalion at Lichfield. After officer training, he was commissioned into the Regiment on 29.5.1918.

He was posted to 13th Bn The Yorkshire Regiment to deploy with it to Russia on16.10.1918. The troopship was a floating wreck and caused various hardships on the battalion and after a month the battalion finally disembarked at Murmansk on 27.11.1918. It stayed there until February 1919, when it moved to Archangel.

The Regimental History adds the following for Butteriss’s service in Russia: ‘The transfer of the 13th Green Howards from what was known as the “Syren” to the “Elope” Force had been carried out under tolerably favourable conditions and the health of the men remainder good. The strength of the Battalion in these parts was now twenty-three officers and six hundred and eighty-four non-commissioned officers and men, while ten officers and one hundred and seventy-five other ranks had been retained with the “Syren” Force on the Murmansk front attached to various units. Almost immediately after arrival on this front the services of a portion of the Battalion were called for: on the 14th March three officers and eighty other ranks of “B” Company with four Lewis guns were sent to Rialka and Lutchino on the Dwina River front to give support to a small force there operating under Colonel Carrol; between the 15th and 18th - on which latter date the Company returned to Shred Mekhrenga - the enemy made three attacks upon Lutchino, but these were all easily repulsed.

Then at midnight on the 19th Second Lieutenant W. G. Butteriss, M.M., and fifty non-commissioned officers and men were sent to Obozerskaya to take part in certain operations in the neighbourhood of Bolshiozerky, coming while there under the orders of the Vologda Force. During March there was no special activity on the Seletskoe front, but the detachment patrolled the country frequently and on two occasions encountered strong bodies of the enemy which were driven off without any loss being incurred by The Green Howards.’

When his company went overland, it was led by Macklin and Stenhouse, who were both with Sir Ernest Shackleton on his expedition to the South Pole. Butteriss met Shackleton at General Ironside’s house, Shackleton was then naval officer in charge of supplies.’

He returned to England with his Battalion in July and was discharged from the Army on 26.7.1919.

Before WW1 he was a keen and more than proficient sportsman and had played rugby for Melton Mowbray and hockey for Leicestershire. In 1919 he again turned out for Egerton Park Cricket Club (of which he was captain for several years), and played cricket for Leicestershire CC 2nd XI in the Minor Counties Championship, May/June, 1925. He also played for Melton Hockey Club and coached the boys of Melton Mowbray Grammar School at cricket.

In the Second World War, he was commissioned into the General List (Infantry) on 4.8.1942. Described as 'late The Green Howards', he served as a Major with 6th Bn Leicestershire Battalion Home Guard 1942-44.

He died in 1966, aged 70 years, and his ashes were scattered over the cricket ground at Egerton Park.

There is a 13-page description of his life in 'Hallaton in the Great War' (Volume 1).

Another medal group including the recipient’s missing M.M. and 1914-15 Star is known - presumably a classic case of the family splitting the group between different members, or branches, of the family upon inheritance.