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The Channel Islands and the Great War |
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Private Allister Seth Bichard
Machine Gun Corps
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On Sunday October 27, at the Greenbank RSL Sub
branch, four generations of the Bichard family
gathered to witness the return of the long lost
WW1 British War Medal of their Australian patriarch,
Allister Seth Bichard.
The broken medal was found in a field on the
island of Jersey in the Channel Islands (off the
coast of France) by Ken Rive a metal detectorist
who announced his find on social media on Armistice
Day 2018.
Ken had been unable to trace the soldier and
believed he may have died.
Jasen Cronin in Jersey and Lara Pollard in Brisbane
(both members of the Channel Islands Great War
Study Group) were able to research and piece together
records of Allister Seth Bichard’s war service
and movements, and were successful in locating
living members of his family in Brisbane. The
research was made more difficult because Allister
had emigrated from Jersey to Australia in 1915,
returned independently to England in 1917 and
served in the Great War under the name Macallister
Seth Bichard. It seems he was unable to attest
in Australia due to being under age and had no
way of providing parental consent.
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The Bichard family did not have any war medals
for Allister but they did have a few photographs
of him during his war service which enabled Jasen
and Lara to positively identify the regiments
he served in during WW1 and match them to the
medal records for Macallister Seth Bichard.
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In February 1917 at the age of 18, Allister attested
into the Honourable Artillery Company in London
and was quickly transferred into the Machine Gun
Corps.
He saw action overseas in France and was discharged
from the MGC on April 3, 1918 due to injury.
He was awarded a British War Medal and a Victory
Medal and was issued with a Silver War (Discharge)
Badge.
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It is not known how or when Allister lost his
war medals, and his Victory Medal and Silver War
Badge are still missing.
It is believed the medals were lost before he
returned to Australia in 1927 with his wife, Blanche
Victorine Huchet.
The family eventually settled farming on a property
in Bundaberg, Queensland. Allister died in February,
1990 and is buried in Bundaberg. His three surviving
children Seth, Allister and Gillian live in Kingaroy,
Tanah Merah and Northern New South Wales.
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The restored British War
Medal
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Once the provenance of the medal and the family
link were established, Ken Rive generously passed
the medal onto Jasen, who had it repaired and
restored for its journey to Australia.
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The medal as found
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Lance Bichard (L) being presented
with the long lost British War Medal of his grandfather's
by ex-Jersey Serviceman Neil Langton
After nearly 100 years the medal finally
found its way home when it was presented to Lance Bichard
by ex-Jersey Military Serviceman Neil Langton at the
Greenbank RSL sub-branch.
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L-R Lara Pollard, Lance Bichard,
Zara Bichard, Allister Bichard, Bev Bichard, Neil
Langton (back) Carly Mentink holding Hailey Mentink
(front), Joshua Bichard, Seth Bichard (back),
Gary Mentick holding Adalie Mentink (front), Hannah
Bichard, Beryl Bichard
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Allister’s children, grandchildren
and great grandchildren were very interested to learn
about their patriarch’s military service, as like
many of his generation he did not talk about it.
The family were extremely appreciative
and thankful to everyone involved in finding and returning
the medal and say they will treasure it always.
Lara Pollard & Jasen Cronin
Presentation photographs by
Nathan Pollard
2019
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