Military Honours

Military Honours

Those brave members of the Bath Club who were awarded military honours and decorations for their deeds

17/11/1914 – Sergeant Alf Cleall held the India Frontier Medal and the Queens African Medal before he died in action in 1914. He is buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium.

30/7/1916 – Lord Alexander Thynne, MP for Bath, and brother of the Marquess of Bath was reported wounded in action on the Somme whilst in command of a Gloucestershire Infantry regiment. He was later awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

23/10/1916 – Lieutenant Vincent Coates Royal Army Medical Corps.was awarded the Military Cross by the King for bravery in battle.

2nd Lt. Noel Symons was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry in rescuing men from a ‘No-Man’s Land.’ He was the youngest son of Mr. E W Symons, Headmaster of King Edwards School, Bath.

17/2/1917 – Sergeant. Sydney R Bence of the London Regiment was killed in action. Sgt. Bence lived in Batheaston. He was one of the finest athletes in his regiment and a keen rugby footballer. He was awarded a Military Medal.He is buried in Laventie Cemetery, France.

November 1942 – D.S.O awarded to Major R.A. Gerrard.

1942 Military Medal awarded to Les Pring  for action in France in World War 2.

8/4/1943 – Group Captain Basil V L A Robinson received the Air.Force Cross. and bar to his Distinguished.Flying.Cross. at a recent investiture  He was the Bath, Durham, Somerset and Wiltshire rugby- threequarter.

24/4/1943 – Lieutenant Geoffrey Foster, Royal Tank Regiment and  Royal Armoured Corps., the Bath and Somerset three-quarter awarded the Military Cross for gallant and distinguished service in the Middle East.

16/10/1943 – Capt. (Acting Major) Ian Flemming Morris Spence, the former Bath captain and Somerset player, awarded the Military Cross for his service in the Middle East. 

16/9/1944 The Chronicle ran an account of two Bath men – Lieut. D K Silvester of 53 Combe Park, and Sergt. T W Hicks of 3 Sydney Place, who, with fellow sappers, in face of heavy enemy fire, had succeeded in constructing a 680 foot bridge across the River Seine, prior to the British assault on August 25th. The bridging of the river was a complicated engineering operation, and made all the more diffficult by a continual barrage of short range enemy fire. Eventually, the machine gun nests were silenced and the Royal.Engineer’s completed the task in three hours. The next day the bridge took a direct hit, but it was repaired and opened again in 2 1/2 hours. It continued to permit a steady stream of armoured vehicles en route to the north of Paris and towards the Belgian frontier.

Sgt. T W Hicks was better known as Tommy, the Bath Rugby Club fly-half. His meritorious service was recognised, with a certificate by an appreciative – Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces.

26/1/45 The Bath Management Committee agreed that a letter of congratulations be sent to Tommy on his award of the Military Medal.

2016 Legion d’ Honneur awarded to Les Pring by the French Government.