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Subject: Re: 228 Pte. T. Westwood, 80th Foot Thu Jun 17, 2010 8:38 pm
Rolf Harris” song Two Little Boys. Was based on Wassal saving Westwood . Now i didn't know that !!!!
littlehand
Posts : 7077 Join date : 2009-04-24 Age : 52 Location : Down South.
Subject: Re: 228 Pte. T. Westwood, 80th Foot Thu Jun 17, 2010 9:39 pm
If I had the money that would be a definite purchase. Lets just hope they go to a good home. Your be lucky to see theses on sale again in our lifetime. I guess it’s the story behind the Westwood medal that makes it that much more desirable. With a bit of luck they might be place in a museum collection that’s on view to the public. Nice find Graves. I wonder what they would fetch if they went on sale with Wassal V.C.
littlehand
Posts : 7077 Join date : 2009-04-24 Age : 52 Location : Down South.
Subject: Re: 228 Pte. T. Westwood, 80th Foot Thu Jun 17, 2010 9:47 pm
Just out of interest !!! Did Westwood leave an account of his rescue by Wassal. As I can only find the Wassal account.
90th
Posts : 10312 Join date : 2009-04-07 Age : 65 Location : Melbourne, Australia
Subject: Pvt . T. Westwood Fri Jun 18, 2010 12:53 am
Hi littlehand. Once again courtesy of that wonderful work by Julian Whybra.
19 / 228 Private . Thomas . Westwood , 80th Regt , attached to the 1st Sqdn Imperial Mounted Infantry.
His statement of the 12th Feb 1879 and his further statement of 11th April 1879 , are both in the National Archives WO 32 / 7387 / 55603 . RELATING TO A SUBMISSION FOR A V.C , for Pvt . Wassall 80th IMI. Escaped via Fugitives Drft to Helpmekaar . I have had only a quick look , but I dont think I have his account , Will try and have a better search later . cheers 90th.
90th
Posts : 10312 Join date : 2009-04-07 Age : 65 Location : Melbourne, Australia
Subject: westwood medal and wassall's VC. Fri Jun 18, 2010 1:00 am
hi littlehand . Forgot to put my pennies worth in with a stab at your medal question , I dont think you would get much change out of 600,000 pounds !. it may even cost a lot more , but seeing as it will never happen ( in our lifetimes ) we will never know. There is talk the Westwood Medals may run into 25 ,000 pd according to some knowledgable lads on RDVC Forum and they may most likely be a tad short !!!. Would be a great buy , count me in if I am lucky enough to win the lottery before hammer time . :) . cheers 90th.
90th
Posts : 10312 Join date : 2009-04-07 Age : 65 Location : Melbourne, Australia
Subject: westwood 80th regt. Fri Jun 18, 2010 10:45 am
Hi Littlehand. As promised I had a very good search in my collection of " stuff " and sadly no account by Westwood , may be worth a shot contacting the Staffordshire regimental Museum , they may have an account or possibly a transcript of the accounts left by Westwood which are in the National Archive . I can tell you that while Westwood was recouperating in the Hospital at Helpmekaar , he overheard a group of officers talking about an unknown man who had rescued someone from the river at Fugitives Drift , Westwood got their attention and then he proceeded to tell them of his story. So , luckily he overheard the conversation otherwise Wassall more than likely wouldn't have been awarded his V.C. cheers 90th.
Subject: Re: 228 Pte. T. Westwood, 80th Foot Fri Nov 25, 2011 11:59 am
Good morning all, I am an ancestor of Thomas Westwood & without your information I wouldn't be able to state to the rest of the family that this brave man was rescued by another very brave Pte Wassell. We were aware that a family member had served but no idea rescued & was part of history in the frame of Rolf Harris' song! I'm wondering if anyone knows where the medals went after being sold in 2010? Are they in a museum as we thought they were still in the family, would now be nice to see the medals & take photos to pass along
Cheers
90th
Posts : 10312 Join date : 2009-04-07 Age : 65 Location : Melbourne, Australia
Subject: Pte. T. Westwood , 80th foot. Fri Nov 25, 2011 2:09 pm
Hi Dave / Scaryb. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I was watching a Doco / Story last week about Rolf Harris and sorry to say the two little boys is about his Father and uncle during WW1 . From what I saw I think his father was wounded and died in a hospital in France and his brother was lying wounded in the same hospital , neither apparantly knew of the others presence there at the same time . I may have it wrong possibly the uncle died and his father didnt know he was there . But there is certainly no connection to Wassal & Westwood & the zulu war . cheers 90th.
johann engelbrecht
Posts : 108 Join date : 2010-06-06 Age : 57 Location : Piet Retief
Subject: Re: 228 Pte. T. Westwood, 80th Foot Fri Nov 25, 2011 5:00 pm
By the way.... how old are you to be his ancestor?
tasker224
Posts : 2102 Join date : 2010-07-30 Age : 54 Location : North London
Subject: Re: 228 Pte. T. Westwood, 80th Foot Fri Nov 25, 2011 6:37 pm
scaryb wrote:
Good morning all, I am an ancestor of Thomas Westwood & without your information I wouldn't be able to state to the rest of the family that this brave man was rescued by another very brave Pte Wassell. We were aware that a family member had served but no idea rescued & was part of history in the frame of Rolf Harris' song! I'm wondering if anyone knows where the medals went after being sold in 2010? Are they in a museum as we thought they were still in the family, would now be nice to see the medals & take photos to pass along
Cheers
Hi Scaryb, welcome to the forum. if you can't find the location of your ancestor's medals using a quick internet search, they are likely to be in a private collection not a museum. museums don't have that kind of money and rarely pay for medals. most have a policy not to pay for medals, artefacts or anything else. they tend to rely on donations, either directly - see the recent post re Lt Edgar Antey's family donating his campaign medal to the SWB museum in Brecon - or groups of members essentially having a whip round and buying an artefact to donate to the museum.
kwajimu1879
Posts : 420 Join date : 2011-05-14
Subject: Re: 228 Pte. T. Westwood, 80th Foot Fri Nov 25, 2011 6:56 pm
I thought I'd post this engraving from 'The Penny Illustrated Paper' of 26th July 1879 that features Privates Wassall & Westwood as its centrepiece and depicts four other VC actions.
(Tasker, I like the Violette Szabo poem tagline by-the-way.)
kwaJimu1879
tasker224
Posts : 2102 Join date : 2010-07-30 Age : 54 Location : North London
Subject: Re: 228 Pte. T. Westwood, 80th Foot Fri Nov 25, 2011 7:09 pm
Beautiful engraving Kwajimu. I admire bravery in all of its forms, but I am moved most by bravery which saves lives. Noel Chavasse: 2 VCs won and he killed no one, but saved countless lives. If ever a man deserved to be made a saint...
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I wonder what they would fetch if they went on sale with Wassal V.C.
