Description
Object description
3 ms letters (9pp) 1919-1921 relating to the service of Wilfrith Elstob VC, who joined the 6th Battalion, Manchester Regiment upon the outbreak of war, and rose through the ranks the serve as Captain and later Lieutenant-Colonel with the 1st City Battalion (later known as the 16th Battalion, Manchester Regiment), and served during the Somme Offensive in 1916 (for which was awarded the Military Cross), and at Arras and Passchendaele in 1917 (for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order). On 21 March 1918 during the 16th Battalion's defence of Manchester Hill near St Quentin, Elstob was wounded and killed as the German's captured the position. Elstob was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) for his actions on that day, and his body never having been found, is commemorated at the Pozieres Memorial on the Somme. The letters written by comrades to his family describe the circumstances of his death, and the search for his body in the years immediately after the war. Together with his framed memorial plaque, memorial scroll and photograph, newspaper clipping containing a photograph of the 'Heroes of Manchester Hill' and a printed booklet To Manchester: A Tribute to 'The fallen' and to 'The Spirit' or Her Great Regiment' by Brigadier General HCE Westropp.
Content description
3 ms letters (9pp) 1919-1921 relating to the service of Wilfrith Elstob VC, who joined the 6th Battalion, Manchester Regiment upon the outbreak of war, and rose through the ranks the serve as Captain and later Lieutenant-Colonel with the 1st City Battalion (later known as the 16th Battalion, Manchester Regiment), and served during the Somme Offensive in 1916 (for which was awarded the Military Cross), and at Arras and Passchendaele in 1917 (for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order). On 21 March 1918 during the 16th Battalion's defence of Manchester Hill near St Quentin, Elstob was wounded and killed as the German's captured the position. Elstob was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) for his actions on that day, and his body never having been found, is commemorated at the Pozieres Memorial on the Somme. The letters written by comrades to his family describe the circumstances of his death, and the search for his body in the years immediately after the war. Together with his framed memorial plaque, memorial scroll and photograph, and a printed booklet To Manchester: A Tribute to 'The fallen' and to 'The Spirit' or Her Great Regiment' by Brigadier General HCE Westropp.