A SAD, TRAGIC & EMOTIVE
3rd YPRES (PASSCHENDAELE)
2nd GORDON HIGHLANDERS,
MILITARY MEDAL.


[LONDON GAZETTE 28th JANUARY 1918]

To.
9259. Cpl. THOMAS BALSHAW. 2nd GORDON HIGHLANDERS.
Who Committed Suicide on 14th November 1918, just three days after the end of the war. He was 30.

[COMMITTED SUICIDE IN ITALY 14th NOVEMBER 1918]
Thomas Balshaw apparently obtained a service revolver and shot himself through the head on 14th November 1918. Unusually, but perhaps understandably, this soldier has over 30 pages of surviving service documents which include his attestation papers and a ten page Army Board of Enquiry report and witness statements on the circumstances surrounding his suicide.

[THE MEDALS]
MILITARY MEDAL.
9259. Cpl. T. BALSHAW. 2/GORD Hdrs (Officially Impressed)

1914-15 STAR
(Blank) Original medal not present...
We think possibly never sent.

WAR & VICTORY MEDALS
9259. Cpl. T. BALSHAW. GORDONS (Officially Impressed)


[BIOGRAPHY]
Thomas Balshaw was born in St George’s, Preston, Lancashire, apparently in 1888, but as his attestation papers have him as being 24years & 8 months old in February 1915, it would give him a birth date of July 1890. He had resided later in nearby Chorley, and prior to enlistment he had worked as a Collier.

[TO FRANCE]
He arrived in France on 12th May 1915 and joined 2nd Bn on 18th. He was wounded in action on 25th September 1915 when he received a serious gunshot wound to his left leg being evacuated to England on Hospital Ship Oxfordshire on 30th September 1915. He spent some twelve weeks convalescing in the U.K. and is seen returning to France on 31st December 1915. He rejoined his unit on 9th January 1916 and went on to qualify as a Bomber in the grenade unit on 2nd April 1916 and joined the 20/2 trench mortar battery on 12th April. He received 7 days field punishment No.2 on 6th June 1916 for ‘absence’. He enjoyed 10 days U.K. leave from 24.7.17 to 3.8.17. He was awarded his MM for bravery in the field at the 3rd Battle of Ypres.

He was seen back in hospital on 1.6.18 suffering from PUO ( Pyrexia of Unknown Origin) of which there was an epidemic in mid-1918 with a rejoining of his unit 14 days later on 13.6.18.

He committed suicide just three days after the armistice by shooting himself in the right temple with a revolver on 14th November 1918. This occurred in a private house in the Village of ORGIAMO, near Vicenza, Venito, which is in northern Italy. He had been found by a fellow soldier who described him as acting in an agitated condition while waving the revolver in the air.

An emotive MM Group to a Lancashire lad who served with great bravery and distinction during the Great War. He was clearly upset about some unknown issue just a few days after the end of the war and took his own life. We shall probably never know just what upset him.

Comes with over 30 pages of official paperwork including copies of the full board of enquiry papers and attestation and service papers. The original 1914-15 star is not present but is represented by a blank.







The group is practically “mint” with original ribbons.

LEST WE FORGET THE TRUE HUMAN COST OF THE WAR.