A fascinating group to SJT Pashley 17/21 Lancers / who while driving an armoured car was wounded in Shanghai in 1927 during the unrest

GV GSM bar Iraq,  correctly impressed - M-23720 Pte. E. Pashley. R.A.S.C. ( edge bruise over Pa. Please note & see pictures that the GSM suspender has been repinned and reattached, a contemporary repair)

France and Germany Star

Defence Medal

War Medal 

GVI Regular Army LSGC, correctly impressed 23720 SJT. E. Pashley. 17/21  L.

 

Swing mounted as worn

Condition - GSM is NVF, the rest NGVF.

 

 

Edwin Pashley, was born in Skelton in Cleveland, near Saltburn, on the 8th of February 1900. 

 

He didn't see service during the Great War but first served with the Royal Devon Yeomanry, which was formed in 1920. Pashley then transferred to the Cheshire Yemonary and the Royal Scots. Service with the three units, as mentioned earlier, was within the first two years of his Army career. Pashley was then transferred to the RASC, with whom he served for just over three years and earned his GSM. 

 

He transferred to the Tank Corps on the 22nd of February 1924 and was posted to China in 1927 when the unrest began. On the 21st of March 1927, Pashley was on an evening patrol as a driver in an armoured car. The Royal Tank Corps Journal stated;

 

' Lieut Newman's sub-section was sent to patrol the road, and if possible, scare away these gunmen, as the Chinese have always had great respect for armoured cars. Just as the cars were turning a corner, the leading car found that one of the barriers at this corner had not been opened, and it had to stop. Instantly two machine guns opened fire at the car from different directions at ranges of about 15 and 30 yards. In the first burst, a large amount of 'splash' came in through the observation slits and wounded the driver Pte. Hurman, and the second driver, Pte. Pashley and L/Cpl Ainslie, the gunner, was also hit. All the above were hit in the face and eyes; fortunately, not one has lost his sight. Both cars opened fire on the machine guns, but not before Lieut Newman had been hit twice in the same arm'. 

 

Pashley recovered quickly and rejoined his unit. He seems to have re-engaged in 1931 and 1936. It is likely that he joined the Lancers in 1936, and he was awarded the LSGC while with them. To earn the France and Germany Star without the 1939/45 Star, he will have served in  Western Europe for less than six months after D-Day.  

 

Discharged in 1945, he passed away in Wakefield in 1965.