WW1 Decorative Glass Bottle

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c. 1918

Subcollections

Overview

Clear slightly green tinged glass bottle Est. 1915 with cork. Inside the bottle is a wooden cross with long strings of small coloured beads hanging from the top of the bottle through the horizontal parts of the cross and hanging down from the cross. It also contains 3 cigarette cards commemorating well known war heroes. The wooden cross has been painted orange with blue stripes and green crosses

Historical information

Cigarette Card 1: 2nd Lt Dorrell
Lt-Col George Thomas Dorrell, VC, MBE (7 July 1880-7 January 1971 was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British Commonwealth forces. He joined the British army at the age of 15 and served in the Boer War. He was 34 years old and a Battery Sergeant Major in the L Battery Royal Horse Artillery in WW2 when he was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery at the battle of Nery, France.

Cigarette Card 2: Drummer Spencer John Bent
John Bent was born 18 March 1891 in Stowmarket, Suffolk, the son of a serving officer in the Royal Horse Artillery. By the age of 10 he was an orphan. In 1905, at just 14 years of age, he enlisted in the East Lancashire regiment as a drummer. He deployed to France at the outbreak of WW1 where he proved himself as an outstanding soldier and was involved in the retreat from Mons and the

Cigarette Card 3: Colonel Walter Lorraine Brodie
Colonel Walter Lorraine Brodie (28 July 1885 - 23 August 1918) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland . He enlisted in the Highland Light Infantry in 1906 and became a career soldier who specialised in machine guns. He was the very first member of the East Lancashire Regiment to be awarded the Victoria Cross and his citation was unusual in the fact it was not for a single action but for a whole series of actions in and around Le Gheer Belgium in late October and early November 1914 when he was 19 years of age. He was killed in action near Behagnies, France on 23 August 1918.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-124-2018.29

Item type

Material

Width

6 cm

Height or length

30 cm

Weight

702 g

Themes

Social History

War and Conflict

Inscriptions and markings

Glass bottle ; 138 & A Gibney
Cross wood written on the horizontal part of cross No12.
Card No1: 2nd Lieut Dorrell
Card No2 : Drummer Spencer John Bent
Card No3: Leut Walter L Brodie

Contextual Information

There is conjecture whether this item can be classified as "Trench Art" or whether it was "Convalescent Art".

Keywords

Military

Year

c. 1918

Primary significance criteria

Historic significance

Social or spiritual significance

Busselton Historical Society

Organisation Details
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