55873: Order to cease fire at 11am (The Armistice), delivered by James Cross

Flimsy carried by Sjt. Jim Cross, despatch rider, to order the cease fire on November 11 1918 at 11am. Apparently batteries were still firing as Cross arrived, some of them after the Armistice.

Part of a large collection relating to Jim Cross, Broadway, Worcestershire. Before the First World War he was a postman in Hereford, joining the army as a ˜sapper' (service number 62966) in the Royal Engineer (Signals) in January 1915. The collection includes artefacts from Serjeant James Cross' service as a despatch rider, and his memoirs “ dictated in his 90s in the 1980s-90s to his second wife, Jill. The memoirs are based on Jim's diaries from 1915, 1917 and 1918. Sjt. Cross served overseas in the 38th (Welsh) Division Signalling Company, and was later attached to Headquaters, Royal Artillery, 63rd (Royal Naval) Division.