MEDALS belonging to a brave soldier are being sold at auction.

Lieut. John 'Jock' Bazley-White fought in WW1 and his medals, which also include the rare Mediterranean Medal, are now being auctioned at Tayler & Fletcher’s North Cotswold Saleroom in Bourton-on-the-Water in their Specialist Antiques and Fine Art Sale.

Jock won the Military Cross for his part in the First Battle of Bullecourt, with the citation ‘for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. While commanding a patrol, although detected and fired on, he pressed forward, and did not withdraw until he obtained the information he desired’ (15 June 1917 The London Gazette and The Times 14 Aug 1917). Jock relinquished his commission in February 1919 on account of ill health caused by severe wounding during the war and in 1939 joined the Home Guard and the Special Constabulary.

According to his wife’s unpublished memoirs, in November 1940 a dogfight broke out over their home in Kemsing, near Sevenoaks, and when the RAF pilot bailed out, 'Jock officially put himself on duty by donning his tin hat and badge and went off to investigate'. After running across two ploughed fields in his wellington boots, he collapsed and died in circumstances which were not entirely dissimilar to those he had experienced in the muddy trenches in 1917. His widow, Isabel, whose first husband’s medals are also put up for sale in this auction, noted that she was granted a much-needed pension of ten shillings a week because her husband had remembered to wear his tin hat and badge.

The Military Cross, which is in good condition, is engraved to the reverse 'J. BAZLEY-WHITE, LIEUTENANT. 2/7th WEST YORKS REGT. BULLECOURT, FRANCE, APRIL 9TH 1917. AUGUST 3RD 1917' and the Mediterranean Medal 'LIEUT. J. BAZLEY WHITE. R.W. KENT. R’. Both are mounted on a brooch-bar with two unassociated 'replacement' medals, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Also included in the lot is the recipient's miniature four-medal set in its original J. R. Gaunt & Son box. The medal group has come by descent through the family to the vendor and carries an estimate of £800-1,200.

The auction is on February 20.