Soldier's medals up for auction
Medals awarded to a Wolverhampton soldier who was tragically killed at a famous First World War campaign will be going under the hammer.
The three medals, belonging to Private William Johnson Barnett, are expected to fetch £300 when they are auctioned off.
Pte Barnett was in his 30s when he was killed in action at Gallipoli in Turkey on August 25, 1915 – the inspiration behind 1981 award-winning film Gallipoli starring Mel Gibson.
He had worked in insurance before enlisting with the King's Own Scottish Borderers and lived in Rugby Street, Wolverhampton, with his wife Elizabeth.
Auctioneers Bonhams said the collection – made up of a 1914-1915 Star and British War and Victory medals – were in "extremely fine" condition.
John Millensted, medals expert at Bonhams, said: "The medals are in super condition as Pte Barnett sadly never got to wear them."
Pte Barnett was born in 1879 and was the son of Thomas Huskisson Barnett and his wife Fanny.
He was one of 18,985 British soldiers, sailors and marines who were killed at Gallipoli, now regarded as one of the worst disasters of the First World War.
Pte Barnett's body was never recovered. He is now commemorated on the Helles Memorial, an obelisk on the tip of the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey.
The auction will be held at Bonhams, in Knightsbridge, London, tomorrow.