Scarce WW1 Pair to Short 16th KRRC Church Lads Brigade.

A WW1 British War and Victory medal correctly named to A-201167 Private Herbert Short of the 16th Battalion (Church Lads Brigade) Kings Royal Rifle Corps.
Herbert Short was born in St Pancras London 1898 and at the time of enlistment, 1915, he was living at 94 Whitfield Street, Tottenham Court Road with his father Thomas a Warehouseman and his other siblings. His Mother Elizabeth had sadly died a few years earlier. It looks like he was an active member of the Church Lads Brigade via Fitzroy Chapel, later St. Saviour's Church, St Pancras. Around his 18th birthday he enlisted into the KRRC, the brigade actively encouraged their young men to join up, he was just 5’3’’ high. He probably trained with the 14th and 15th reserved battalion, but he was sent to France landing at Le Havre in the November 1915 with the 100th brigade, 33rd division. During his time in France, he saw action at the Somme including the attacks on High Wood, where the battalion was almost decimated and the battles of Arras. He was sent home on leave for a while in 1917 but returned to the western front for 1918. Here he probably saw action in the battles of Lys, the Hindenburg Line and phases of the Final Advance in Picardy. Before he was discharged, he succumbed to the Spanish Flu which almost killed him with a temperature reaching 104f at one stage. When he was finally discharged it was from the hospital on 17th March 1919. It is not known what happened to Herbert after the war, however there is a letter in his service papers from the ‘Rifleman’s Aid Society’ stating that Herbert is requiring support dating 1932.
His medals come with an original photographs of him in the CLB, CLB badges and medal, plus a rare 16th London regiment shoulder title. Copies of his medal index card and service rolls and what remains of his service records. Both medals are in very good original condition and may have been mounted and worn at some point.
A scarce pair to a London Pals battalion who remarkably survived the attacks on High Wood during the Somme campaign.

Code: 29938