Medals Belonging to Sgt Joseph Luther Spencer 1/5th Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment

240045 Sgt Joseph Luther Spencer 1/5th Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment was born in Rotherham in 1884. He joined the 2nd VB York and Lancaster Regiment in 1902 and left in 1906 but joined the 5th Battalion at Rotherham in 1910. Joseph Spencer can be classed as both a pre war Volunteer and a pre war Territorial. He was an electrician at the Dalton Main Colliery at Silverwood and lived at 52 Oxford Street in Rotherham. He was married to Harriet Spencer and had a daughter Annie Muriel Spencer. 

He suffered a gun shot wound to the shoulder on 7th July 1915 while the battalion was in the trenches at Fleurbaix. He was sent to a hospital in England and then the 3/5th (Reserve) Battalion York and Lancs at Clipstone camp in Nottinghamshire. At some stage, he was given the army number 5/1172. Whilst at Clipstone, he suffered a bout of pleurisy which left him with chest pains and shortage of breath all of which appeared to be linked to the wound he suffered in Flanders. Because of this, he was transferred to the Territorial Force reserve on 27th August 1916.

In February 1918 he was transferred to the reserve due to a disability of valvular decrease of the heart. He was awarded the 1915 Star, the War and Victory Medals for service during World War One. He died in 1966 at the age of 82 in Rotherham.