WW1 Medal Pair to Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force (259th Canadian Rifles Battalion)
Impressed naming with attempted erasures to: 3311261 PTE. S.R. PUGH. C.S.E.F.
Sidney Richard Pugh was born nr. Bristol, England on 13th Nov. 1900 to William Henry and Amelia birth Pugh (he gave his year as 1899 on enlistment) and was a Farm Hand when he attested in the CEF on 28th May 1918. His next of kin was listed as his sister who lived at 15 Church Road Bedminster, Bristol, his father's address. Too young to serve overseas he did however manage to serve in Russia, he would of been present at the "Victoria Mutiny" as he embarked on the SS Teesta on 21 December 1918. See below :
On 21 December 1918, two companies of troops in the 259th Battalion (Canadian Rifles), mutinied in the streets of Victoria, British Columbia. The mutiny occurred as the conscripts were marching from the Willows Camp to the city's Outer Wharves. Midway through the march, a platoon of troops near the rear refused to halt. Officers fired their revolvers in the air in an attempt to quell the dissent. When this failed, they ordered the obedient troops, primarily from the Ontario companies, to remove their canvas belts and whip the mutineers back into line. The march proceeded through downtown Victoria to the outer wharves, accompanied by a guard of honour of 50 troops armed with rifles and fixed bayonets. Twenty-one hours later, the SS Teesta left Victoria harbour bound for Vladivostok, with a dozen ringleaders detained in cells. While a court martial found the accused guilty of "mutiny and willful disobedience", the sentences were commuted by General Elmsley prior to the Canadian evacuation in early April, amid concern over the legality of deploying men under the Military Service Act for a mission tangentially connected to the "defence of the realm"
GVF on very tatty short ribbons, except for attempted erasure of the naming, more visible on the Victory medal. His service file is available on line and downloadable for free from Archives Canada.
