Surrey RASC MT

[matti467]

I mentioned this a while ago but now have it back in my possession to show photos. At first sight it is a rather ordinary run of the mill cigarette case. On opening it is silver with a full hallmark and a second half hallmark.
Birmingham 1917-18
Then there is the inscription. I actually bought it because of the inscription that identifies it as not being quite so 'run-of-the-mill'

Presented by Capt Goodsir
to
Private S E H Foyle
Surrey RASC MT

[High Wood]

Stewart Ernest Harry Foyle. Born Kensington 13th August 1899. Married Florence D Sibery 1928. Shown on the 1939 Register as living in Croydon and working as a Lorry Driver for the Co Op bread distributors. He died in 1966 age 67. There is no medal index card for him so it seems unlikely that he served overseas during the Great War.

[matti467]

Thank you. He would have been on the cusp of going overseas or not. My uncle Charles, born 1898, did go the France in April 1918 and managed to see out the end of the conflict.
Pte Foyle doubtless did much mundane but essential transport work.

[High Wood]

He certainly could have served in Germany in 1919 but would have had no medal entitlement.

[matti467]

Unlike the poor German lads of 1900 who were called up and killed in vast numbers in the last 100 days.

I rather like it as it is a rare unit and often overlooked.
I paid £35 to save it from the scrappers

[High Wood]

You did well and thank you for saving it. I often do the same, there is a bloke at the local antique market who buys old pewter tankards for scrap, he lets me look through his scrap box for any that I think are worth saving.

My latest purchase from him is a glass bottom tankard, without the glass, that is engraved with the badge of the Inns of Court O.T.C. It reads: Inns of Court O.T.C. Prize for Recruits. 1922. Squadron. Won by E.M. Brandebourg.

Surprisingly, Eric M Brandebourg served in both the Machine Gun Corps and the Hampshire Regiment during the Great War.