Deeves's Uniform Jacket

Deeves's Uniform Jacket

CULTURAL HERITAGE,HISTORY,SOCIAL HISTORY

The uniform belonged to 2nd Lieutenant Thomas William Deeves MC, who served in the 16th (Public School) Battalion, the Middlesex Regiment. Deeves received the Military Cross with bar (basically: two military crosses!) for his gallantry on two separate occasions on the 20th and 30th of November 1917. On the 30th he was so badly injured by airplane machine gun fire that he was left for dead in a farmhouse; two days later, as he was taken away to be buried, someone checked his pulse and found he was still - barely - alive.

After several days on a No Hope Ward in a military hospital, doctors began to treat him. Two and a half years later, after over 30 operations, he requested to have his left arm amputated. The red triangles on his uniform sleeves are wound stripes, showing that he had previously been injured.

Walter would have worn a similar jacket as he was on active service in the 17th and 23rd Middlesex Regiments.

Walter took part in a football tournament between the Sportsmen’s and Public Schools’ Battalions whilst training in July 1915. Deeves was also training in the same camps as Walter. They were at Perham Down in summer and autumn 1915. Deeves left Folkestone for Boulogne on 17 November 1915 and Walter on 18, the day after. They were also in the same Battalion at the same time: Walter was in the 5th Battalion between 30 May and 4 August 1917 and Deeves joins the 5th Battalion (a reserve officer’s Battalion before being posted to the Front) on 27 June 1917 after recuperating from a shrapnel wound.

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The uniform belonged to 2nd Lieutenant Thomas William Deeves MC, who served in the 16th (Public School) Battalion, the Middlesex Regiment. Deeves received the Military Cross with bar (basically: two military crosses!) for his gallantry on two separate occasions on the 20th and 30th of November 1917. On the 30th he was so badly injured by airplane machine gun fire that he was left for dead in a farmhouse; two days later, as he was taken away to be buried, someone checked his pulse and found he was still alive. After several days on a No Hope Ward in a military hospital, doctors began to treat him. Two and a half years later, after over 30 operations, he requested to have his left arm amputated. The red triangles on his uniform sleeves are wound stripes, showing that he had previously been injured. Walter would have worn a similar jacket as he was on active service in the 17th and 23rd Middlesex Regiments. Walter took part in a football tournament between the Sportsmen’s and Public Schools’ Battalions whilst training in July 1915. Deeves was also training in the same camps as Walter. They were at Perham Down in summer and autumn 1915. Deeves left Folkestone for Boulogne on 17 November 1915 and Walter on 18, the day after. They were also in the same Battalion at the same time: Walter was in the 5th Battalion between 30 May and 4 August 1917 and Deeves joins the 5th Battalion (a reserve officer’s Battalion before being posted to the Front) on 27 June 1917 after recuperating from a shrapnel wound. Deeves’s Uniform Jacket in the collections of the The Queen’s & PWRR Regimental Museum in Dover, UK.