WWI BWM. 2Lt Brooke. Motor Machine Gun Corps. Wounded. Rochdale.

Correctly named 2Lt GV Brooke

George Victor Brooke was born in Rochdale to Harry and Mary in 1897.

Finding the family in 1911 living at ‘Brookleigh’ Manchester Road in Rochdale with George in school.

George is listed in the London Gazette on the 23rd of August 1916 as a 2nd Lieutenant with the Motor Machine Gun Corps.

From records we see he was wounded with a report issued in October 1916. He was wounded by shrapnel to the ankle.

He was awarded the Silver War Badge numbered 149850 (not present) he is also entitled to a British War Medal (not present) to complete his Pair. An address is noted as 75 Drake St, Rochdale.

The Motor Machine Gun Service (MMGS) was a unit of the British Army in the First World War, consisting of batteries of motorcycle/sidecar combinations carrying Vickers machine guns. It was formed in 1914 and incorporated into the Machine Gun Corps in October 1915 as the Machine Gun Corps (Motors).

On the creation of the Machine Gun Corps in October 1915, the MMGS was incorporated into it as the Machine Gun Corps (Motors) (MGC(M)). Most MGC(M) batteries on the Western Front were disbanded in the course of 1916. Nevertheless, the surviving mobile batteries eventually came into their own during the advances of 1918, as well as in other theatres of the war, notably Palestine, Mesopotamia and East Africa. From 1916, many men of the MGC(M) were transferred to the Heavy Section, MGC, which later became the Tank Corps. In 1922, the Tank Corps absorbed all remaining units of the MGC(M).

We see George is recorded as living at 47 Woodhouse St, Chorlton, Manchester at 1917 and we that is when his pension payments began. Resource: Retired Disability Pay Ledger.

From 1920 he is enrolled in the Technical College of Manchester University and we see he is apprenticed in turning, milling, engine testing and road testing.

In 1921, he has moved to 15 Melville Street in Coventry where he lives with his mother. He is now an automobile engineering student working at Daimler Co LTD Coventry.

By 19139, he has moved to ‘Gondal’, Borwick Lane, Carnforth, Lancashire. It is noted he a motor engineer on design and experimental works and temporarily retired.

George died in 1984.

The medal has an original silk ribbon.