DAY 1 OF THREE-DAY SALES
Lot 45:
A Tibet Medal 1903-4 with clasp ‘Gyantse’ named to: 7196 Pte G Bodfish 1st Bn Ryl Fuslrs.
The 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers was the sole British Battalion employed in the 1903 expedition to Tibet under Colonel Francis Younghusband.
George Bodfish was born on 9 March 1882 at Brentford and enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers in 1899 at the age of sixteen. He served in Burma and India and in the expedition to Tibet in 1903-4 and was discharged to the Reserve in 1907. Following the outbreak of WW1 he was recalled to the Colours and served in France with the BEF from 07/09/1914, where he was wounded twice. He was discharged on completion of his engagement on 06/03/1916 but re-enlisted on 06/09/1916 and was transferred to the 21st Battalion Machine Gun Corps with whom, as a sergeant, he was awarded an immediate Distinguished Conduct Medal for his ‘conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty’ during the Battle of Arras (DCM LG 26/07/1916). He later served in North Russia from April to November 1919 before being finally discharged on 14/12/1919. For his WW1 Service he was awarded the 1914 Star with clasp, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal in addition to the DCM (with an outstanding fighting citation) – although the present whereabouts of these medals is not known.
He married Edith Eastwood in 1914 and they had two sons. After the war, they lived in Wandsworth where George Bodfish worked as a policeman for the LGOC (London Bus Company) and later for the gas company. He died at Chelsea on 12/01/1941 aged 60.
With copies of medal rolls, WW1 Medal Index Cards, extract from record of service, the citation for the DCM and record from the 1921 Census.
The medal is a little polished and with slack suspender as is common with these medals. However, generally Very Fine (VF) condition and medals to the Royal Fusiliers becoming scarce.
Share this lot:
Cadmore Auctions
3 Station Close
Potters Bar,
Hertfordshire
EN6 1TL
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 01992633373
