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Seven: Sergeant W. P. Green, Middlesex Regiment, later Royal Air Force, a recipient of the scarce clasp for Southern Desert, Iraq 1914 Star, with later slide clasp (L-10953 L.Cpl. W. R [sic]. Green. 4/Midd’x R.); British War and Victory Medals (L-10953 Sjt. W. P. Green. Midd’x R.); General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Southern Desert, Iraq (356491. Cpl. W. P. Green. R.A.F.); War Medal 1939-45; Army Meritorious Service Medal, G.V.R., 1st issue (10953 Sjt: W. Green. 11/Midd’x: R.); Iraq, Kingdom, Active Service Medal, no clasp, mounted court-style for wear, light contact marks, the Great War awards slightly polished, these nearly very fine; the later awards better (7) £1,000-£1,400 --- M.S.M. London Gazette 4 June 1917. William Percival Green was born in East Finchley, London, and attested for the Middlesex Regiment at Mill Hill on 22 January 1906. Transferred to the Army Reserve on 17 June 1912, he was recalled to the Colours on the outbreak of the Great War, and served as a Lance-Corporal with the 4th Battalion on the Western Front from 31 August 1914, as part of a draft of reinforcements sent to the battalion following their losses at Mons. Advanced Sergeant and posted on attachment to the 32nd Light Trench Mortar Battery, his name was published in the Casualty List on 17 June 1917, and for his services he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, one of 176 awards of the Meritorious Service Medal made to the Middlesex Regiment during the Great War. Discharged on 31 March 1920, Green subsequently re-enlisted as a Corporal with the Royal Air Force, and qualified as a Cook and Butcher on 12 November 1923, being then employed as such for the remainder of his service. In 1928 when serving most probably with either No. 4 or No. 5 Armoured Car Company, he saw service in the operations against the Akhwan in the Southern Desert of Iraq, service which qualified him for the General Service Medal 1918-1962, with the rare clasp for Southern Desert, Iraq. He was discharged on 5 November 1929, and returned to live in Finchley, London. Subsequently enlisting as an Aircraftman 1st Class with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on 22 March 1941, he was employed during the war at R.A.F. Medmenham in Buckinghamshire, before being discharged physically unfit for further service on 11 October 1943. He died in East Finchley in 1965. Sold with the recipient’s British Army Parchment Certificate of Service, dated 2 July 1920; Discharge Certificate, dated 31 March 1920; Army Second Class Certificate of Education, dated 29 February 1912; Royal Air Force Statement of Discharge of an Airman’s Qualifications and Employment for the trade of Cook and Butcher, dated 5 November 1929; Royal Air Force Brief Statement of Service and Certificate of Discharge, dated 17 August 1943; and other ephemera.

Six: Sergeant S. J. Withycombe, Devonshire Regiment 1914-15 Star (10201 Pte. S. J. Withycombe. Devon: R.); British War and Victory Medals (10201 Pte. S. J. Withycombe. Devon. R.); Jubilee 1935, unnamed as issued; Army Meritorious Service Medal, G.VI.R., 3rd issue (5608737 Sjt. S. J. Withycombe. Devon. R.); Army L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 3rd issue, Regular Army (5608737 Cpl. S. J. Withycombe. Devon R.) the Great War trio heavily polished and worn, therefore fair; the later awards good very fine and better (6) £240-£280 --- Sidney James Withycombe was born in Totnes, Devon in 1897. A Quarryman by occupation he enlisted into the Devonshire Regiment on 20 August 1914 and was posted to the newly formed 8th (Service) Battalion under training at Rushmoor Camp. Embarking with his battalion on 25 July 1915 for France he took part in the actions on the Somme and around Ypres during 1915-17. With the 8th Battalion he entrained for Italy on 18 November 1917 and again saw action this time on the Asiago Plateau and the crossing of the River Piave on 26 October 1918. Attesting ‘In the Field’ for a further four years’ service on 27 January 1919, he was posted to the reformed 2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment and embarked for India with his battalion to serve at Quetta, Baluchistan and further extending his length of service in 1922. Posted to the Depot, Exeter in February 1927, he was shortly after posted to the 1st Battalion serving with the Shanghai Defence Force on 20 April 1927, and later in Malta. Returning to the Depot, Exeter, on 9 July 1931, he was presented with his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal by the Colonel of the Regiment on 29 July 1933. Awarded the King’s Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935, he was discharged to pension 2 March 1936. He was awarded his Meritorious Service Medal without gratuity per Army Order 98 of December 1953. Known within his regiment as ‘Sid’ and well respected, he died at Cullompton on 6 January 1993 aged 95, his death being recorded in the Regimental Newsletter March 1993. Sold with the recipient’s original Certificate of Service (Red Book); copied service records, a copy newspaper clipping including an image of him wearing his medals, and other research.

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Transvaal, Wittebergen (R. F. Rand. Surgeon.) engraved naming, nearly extremely fine £300-£400 --- Richard Frederick Rand was born in 1858 and was educated at the University of Edinburgh. In 1890 he immigrated to South Africa and volunteered for service with the expedition to occupy Mashonaland. Appointed Medical Officer to the British South Africa Company’s Police from 1895 to 1899, he was Surgeon to the Fort Salisbury Hospital. He served with distinction during the Boer War, when he was put in charge of the Military Hospital on Robert’s Heights, and saw further service during the Great War in the campaigns in South-West Africa and in East Africa. Retiring in 1935, he returned to England and died on 3 January 1937. Sold with copied research, which states that he was reputedly offered a knighthood by Cecil Rhodes.

Four: Sick Berth Chief Petty Officer M. Hayes, Royal Navy Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1936-1939 (M.30701 M. Hayes. S.B.C.P.O. R.N.); 1939-45 Star; War Medal 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 3rd issue, coinage head (M.30701 M. Hayes. L.S.B.A. H.M.S. Vivid.) the last somewhat polished, otherwise good very fine (4) £100-£140 --- Michael Hayes was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in April 1933, and served in H.M.S. Delhi from 23 October 1934 to 22 April 1937, seeing active service in pre-War Palestine. He saw further service during the Second World War in H.M.S. Vasna from 30 August 1939 to 11 July 1941, during which Vasna was involved in the evacuation of Norway. He was finally released on 19 September 1945. Sold with copied research.

Pair: Private R. Dorby, Seaforth Highlanders Kabul to Kandahar Star 1880 (58B/2023 Private R. Dorby 72nd. Highlanders); Khedive’s Star, dated 1882, the reverse contemporarily engraved ‘393 Pte. R. Dorby 1/Sea: Hrs.’, nearly very fine (2) £260-£300 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Robert Dorby was born in Stirlingshire in 1860 and attested for the 78th Highlanders on 29 November 1878, having previously served with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Militia). He served with them overseas in India and Afghanistan from 22 December 1879 to 1 August 1882, seeing active service during the Second Afghan War (also entitled to an Afghanistan Medal with clasp Kandahar). Subsequently proceeding to Egypt, he saw further service during the Egyptian campaign from 2 August to 1 November 1882 (also entitled to an Egypt and Sudan Medal with clasp for Tel-el-Kebir). Returning home, he was discharged on 28 November 1890, after 12 years’ service. Sold with copied service papers, medal roll extracts, and other research.

Pair: Surgeon-General Sir William D. C. Williams, K.C.M.G., C.B., Army Medical Corps, who served as Principal Medical Officer of the New South Wales Contingent to the Sudan in 1885, and subsequently as Principal Medical Officer of the Australian and New Zealand Contingents in the Boer War, being twice Mentioned in Despatches Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, undated reverse, 1 clasp, Suakin 1885 (Surgn. Maj: W. D. C. Williams. (P.M.O.) N.S.W. Contgt.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Cape Colony, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Wittebergen, clasp block loose on riband (Colonel W. D. C. Williams. N.S.W., A.M.C.) edge bruise, pitting and contact marks to first, this nearly very fine; the QSA nearly extremely fine, rare to unit (2) £1,800-£2,200 --- K.C.M.G. London Gazette 3 June 1916: ‘For services rendered in connection with Military Operations in the Field.’ C.B. London Gazette 19 April 1901: ‘In recognition of his services in connection with the Campaign in South Africa 1899-1900’. Knight of Grace, Order of St. John London Gazette 4 March 1904. Sir William Daniel Campbell Williams was born in Sydney on 30 July 1856 and was educated at Sydney Grammar School, before studying medicine at University College, London. Appointed Staff Surgeon to the New South Wales Permanent Artillery on 1 October 1883, he was advanced Major in 1884 and served a Principal Medical Officer to the New South Wales Sudan Contingent in 1885, being mentioned in a special despatch. Returning home to Sydney, Williams was appointed Principal Medical Officer of the New South Wales Forces, and during the period 1888–91 he reorganised the army medical services, introducing a well-trained permanent Medical Staff Corps. The Corps was equipped with improved light ambulance wagons of Williams’s own design, lightweight stretchers, mounted stretcher bearers and an intensive training program for Corps members. Following the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899, Williams mobilised two contingents of the New South Wales Army Medical Corps, and as their Colonel led the first contingent to South Africa. His highly mobile medical units, which could keep up with the forward troops, provided an excellent service, and he was consequently appointed by Lord Roberts as Principal Medical Officer of the Australian and New Zealand Contingents on 11 January 1900. Williams saw subsequent service during the Boer War as Principal Medical Officer to Sir Ian Hamilton’s Mounted Infantry Division; and later as Principal Medical Officer to Sir Archibald Hunter’s Field Force, and took part in the operations in the Orange Free State, Transvaal, Orange River Colony, and Cape Colony; and in the actions at Johannesburg, Pretoria, Diamond Hill, Bethlehem, Wittebergen, and Wittepoort. A British war correspondent described Williams as 'the first man I have met who seems to be a master of Army medical work in the field'. For his services in South Africa he was promoted to Surgeon General; was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 16 April 1901); and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath. He was also appointed a Knight of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. In 1902 Williams was appointed as the Australian Army’s inaugural Director General of Medical Services, in which role he drew together the disparate former colonial military medical services into the Australian Army Medical Service and oversaw the establishment of the Australian Army Nursing Service in 1903. Following the outbreak of the Great War he was appointed Director of Medical Services, Australian Imperial Force, for service overseas. However, by now aged 58, greatly overweight and physically unfit, he was in poor shape for the rigours of the campaigns ahead, and upon arrival in Egypt was immediately sent on to London, where he did useful work procuring motor ambulances, medical equipment, and pharmaceutical supplies for the Australian Imperial Force’s medical units. Subsequently attached to the Australian High Commission on war work, he returned home in failing health in 1916; was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 21 June 1916); and was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in that year’s Birthday Honours’ List. He retired from the Army in 1917, and died of heart disease in Melbourne in May 1919, being buried with full military honours.

Nine: Flight Lieutenant W. F. Diggins, Royal Air Force, late Middlesex Regiment and East Surrey Regiment, a recipient of the scarce clasp for Southern Desert, Iraq, who was subsequently Mentioned in Despatches for his services in Burma British War and Victory Medals (240465 Sjt. W. F. Diggins. Midd’x R.); Territorial Force War Medal 1914-19 (2776 Pte. W. F. Diggins. Midd’x R.); General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Southern Desert, Iraq (358877. Cpl. W. F. Diggins. R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; Burma Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf, this with reverse pin; Royal Air Force L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (358877. F/Sgt. W. F. Diggins. R.A.F.) all housed in a glazed display frame, polished, minor edge bruising, nearly very fine and better (9) £1,200-£1,600 --- M.I.D. London Gazette 14 January 1944: ‘For gallant and distinguished services in Burma.’ Walter Frederick Diggins was born in Paddington, London, on 31 October 1890, and attested for the Middlesex Regiment (Territorial Force) on 22 January 1909. Mobilised on the outbreak of the Great War, he initially served with the 2/8th Battalion, and was stationed in Gibraltar from September 1914 to March 1915. Advanced Sergeant on 10 July 1915, he transferred to the 7th Battalion on 19 July 1917, and served with them during the Great War on the Western Front from 11 October 1917. Four days later he transferred as a Sergeant to the East Surrey Regiment, and was posted to the 1st Battalion. It was during the Third Battle of Ypres on 6 November 1917 that Diggins was wounded in action, receiving a gunshot wound to the left leg, that necessitated his evacuation for treatment via No. 2 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station to No. 22 General Base Hospital, and then to England with Cambridge Hospital at Aldershot. Diggins did not see any further active service during the war, but was reduced to Corporal after being found guilty by a District Court Martial for absence without leave on two occasions, the first time from 21 to 27 December 1917, when he then admitted himself for treatment to the Hounslow Military Hospital, and for the second time between 5 and 23 January 1918, being reduced to Corporal on 13 February 1918. He was disembodied on demobilisation on 20 March 1919. Diggins subsequently re-enlisted as a Corporal in the Army Reserve on 2 September 1922, and remained as such until he enlisted as an Aircraftman 2nd Class into the Royal Air Force on 17 November 1924. Posted from the Depot to the Armament and Gunnery School on 26 February 1925, he was promoted to Leading Aircraftman on 31 December 1925, and then joined 99 Bomber Squadron on 6 January 1926, before being posted to the School of Technical Training on 13 July 1926, and then to ‘M’ Depot Squadron from 5 November 1926. Posted out to Iraq on 7 December 1926, he joined No. 4 Armoured Car Company on 27 December 1926. Having transferred to the Armoured Car Wing in Iraq on 1 April 1927, and been promoted to Corporal on 1 March 1928, he rejoined No. 4 Armoured Car Company on 3 April 1928, and was at some staged attached to No. 5 Armoured Car Company. 1i 1928 he saw service in the operations against the Akhwan in the Southern Desert of Iraq, service which qualified him for the General Service Medal 1918-1962, with the rare clasp for Southern Desert, Iraq. Posted back to the Armoured Car Wing on 24 October 1928, Diggins was posted to Headquarters Middle East on 14 November 1928, and then to No. 2 Armoured Car Company on 13 November 1928. Promoted Sergeant on 1 December 1932, he was posted home on 26 April 1934. After a period of leave, and also a spell in hospital, he was posted to the Air Armaments School on 28 August 1934, and was then posted back out to the Middle East on 9 April 1935, where he joined 45 Bomber Squadron on 20 April 1935. After service in Egypt, where he was promoted to Flight Sergeant on 1 February 1937, he was posted back to the home establishment on 1 April 1937. Posted to No. 1 Air Armaments School at Eastchurch on 22 April 1938, he moved with the unit to Manby on 15 August 1938, where he was serving on the outbreak of the Second World War, being promoted to temporary Warrant Officer on 23 September 1939, his award of the Royal Air Force Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was announced on 7 November 1939. Diggins was posted to 263 Squadron on 4 November 1939, a fighter unit equipped with Gloster Gladiators which then operated out of R.A.F. Filton near Bristol. Germany invaded Norway on 9 April 1940 and 263 Squadron was soon instructed to prepare for a move. On 20 April, the aircraft were flown, via R.A.F. Sealand, to Scapa Flow, where Fleet Air Arm pilots landed them on the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Glorious and 18 Gladiators sailed for Norway. On 24 April, after two days sailing, the Squadron flew its aircraft off the carrier to a landing strip on the frozen lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in Oppland in central southern Norway. Unfortunately for the enterprise, the squadron was extremely short of ground staff and equipment and few of its Gladiators had been prepared for combat, when the Luftwaffe struck with Heinkel 111s shortly after daybreak on 25 April. By the end of 26 April, although 263 Squadron had managed to destroy two Heinkels, all of its aircraft had been destroyed or rendered unserviceable and by the end of the month the squadron was ordered home. The re-equipped squadron returned to the far north of Norway on 21 May, flying from Bardufoss airfield, near Narvik, reinforced by 46 Squadron whose Hurricanes arrived a few days later, using an airstrip at Skånland. Due to unsuitable ground at Skånland, 46 Squadron moved so that both were operating from Bardufoss by 27 May. The squadrons had been ordered to defend the fleet anchorage at Skånland and the military base at Harstad on the island of Hinnoya. Action was short but intense before the squadrons were instructed on 2 June to prepare for evacuation; 263 Squadron had flown 249 sorties and claimed 26 enemy aircraft destroyed. 263's ten surviving Gladiators were landed on H.M.S. Glorious on 7 June. Glorious sailed but was intercepted by the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst. She was sunk and along with the aircraft from four squadrons. 263 Squadron lost its CO, S/Ldr John W Donaldson, F/Lt Alvin T Williams and P.O. Sidney Robert McNamara along with seven other pilots. Posted to another fighter unit, 79 Squadron, on 2 March 1942, Diggins then moved with the squadron to India, arriving there in May 1942, where the squadron flew primarily ground attack missions, initially with later mark cannon armed Hurricanes. It was for his services whilst still a Warrant Officer that Diggins was Mentioned in Despatches. Commissioned Flying Officer on 10 August 1943, and posted to the Technical Branch, he saw service out in Burma, and was promoted to Flight Lieutenant on 10 August 1946. He transferred to the Retired List on 6 March 1947. Sold with the recipient’s original M.I.D. Certificate; and copied research.

Seven: Sergeant C. H. Upperton, Army Air Corps, late Royal Sussex Regiment India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1930-31 (6395606 Pte. C. H. Upperton. R. Suss. R.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star, 1 clasp, 8th Army; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1945-48 (6395606 Sjt. C. H. Upperton. A.A.C.); Army L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 2nd issue, Regular Army (6395606 Pte. C. H. Upperton. A.A.C.) minor edge nicks, nearly extremely fine (7) £240-£280 --- Charles Henry Upperton was born on 4 March 1909 and attested for the Royal Sussex Regiment at Chichester on 13 January 1928. He served with the 2nd Battalion in India, and subsequently as a Drummer with the British Expeditionary Force during the Second World War, being wounded in France on 22 May 1940. Recovering from his wounds he saw further service in Africa and was present at the Battle of El Alamein. He volunteered for the Airborne forces when the 2nd Suffolks became the 10th Battalion, Parachute Regiment. Transferring to the Army Air Corps he saw further service in post-War Palestine, and was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. He was discharged in January 1949. Sold with copied medal roll extracts and other research.

Six: Flight Sergeant C. G. Hayward, Royal Air Force, a recipient of the scarce clasp for Southern Desert, Iraq General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Southern Desert, Iraq (362341. L.A.C. C. G. Hayward. R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Royal Air Force L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (362341. F/Sgt. C. G. Hayward. R.A.F.) mounted court-style for display, nearly extremely fine (6) £900-£1,200 --- Clifford Gladwin Hayward was born in Southsea, Hampshire, on 17 September 1905 and enlisted as a Boy entrant at R.A.F. Halton on 31 January 1922. He served with No. 6 Armoured Car Company in Iraq from 16 October 1926, and saw active service in the operations against the Akhwan in the Southern Desert of Iraq, service which qualified him for the General Service Medal 1918-1962, with the rare clasp for Southern Desert, Iraq. He was discharged on 12 July 1948. Sold with copied research.

1914 Star (CHT-285 Wgnr: F. Cooper. A.S.C.) very fine and a scarce rank £80-£100 --- Frank Cooper, a Farm Labourer from Barmby Moor, East Riding of Yorkshire, was born in 1887. He attested into the ‘Wold’s Wagoners’ Special Reserve on 13 July 1913, and reengaged for a further year on 2nd July 1914. Mobilised for service during the Great War on 6 August 1914, he served on the Western Front from 20 August 1914 as a Wagoner in the Army Service Corps and later saw further service with the Supply Division Army Service Corps, He was discharged after the cessation of hostilities in June 1919. Sold with copied Medal Index Card.

Ashantee 1873-74, no clasp (Capt: E. M. Forbes, 2nd W.I. Regt. 1873-4.) edge bruising, otherwise very fine £500-£700 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Edward M’Mahon Forbes was originally commissioned Second Lieutenant in November 1857 and saw action in West Africa in the operations against the King of Quiah between November 1861 and February 1862, and was present at the defeat of Pa Caney and his men at Kabal, where he was wounded. A Captain in the 2nd West India Regiment by the outbreak of the Ashantee War in 1873, he was present at several early operations, Essaman, Akimfoo and Ampenee among them, and was slightly wounded at the former place. Forbes was advanced to Major in August 1874 and was placed on half-pay in November of the same year, possibly as a result of the wound he received at Essaman.

Three: Sergeant W. Barron, Royal Scots Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (6001 Sergt. W. Barron. Royal Scots) partially renamed; British War and Victory Medals (4297 Sjt. W. Barron. R. Scots.) mounted incorrectly, the first renamed with number, rank and name unofficially engraved, edge bruising, contact marks, verdigris stain to third, otherwise generally good fine (3) £70-£90 --- William Barron attested into the Royal Scots and served in South Africa as a Lance Sergeant with the 3rd Battalion during the Boer War. Entitled to a Queen’s South Africa medal with the clasp ‘South Africa 1901’, he was discharged ‘Time expired’ on 28 October 1901. He reenlisted into his old regiment for service during the Great War and saw further service with the Labour Corps.

Pair: Corporal J. Goldie, Kimberley Horse, late Scotts Railway Guards, Canadian Scouts and Brabant’s Horse Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Belfast (2094 Tpr: J. Goldie.) unit erased; King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (403 Cpl. J. Goldie. Kimberley Horse) unit erased on first, very fine (2) £160-£200 --- J. Goldie attested into Scotts Railway Guards and served during the Boer War. He saw further service with the Canadian Scouts, Brabant’s Horse the Kimberley Horse, with whom he was advanced Corporal. Sold with copied medal roll extracts annotated that the recipient had been sentenced to 28 day’s hard labour.

A Great War ‘Cape Helles, Gallipoli’ D.C.M. group of three awarded to Bombardier J. Archbold, Royal Field Artillery, for his gallantry in bringing in three wounded men under heavy fire; for his services with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in 1915 he was additionally Mentioned in Despatches Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (34447 A. Mmbr: J. Archbold. 97/Bty. R.F.A.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (34447 Gnr: J. Archbold, 17th. Bty: R.F.A.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (34447 Bomb: J. Archbold. R.F.A.) minor edge bruising, very fine (3) £800-£1,000 --- D.C.M. London Gazette 16 November 1915: ‘For conspicuous gallantry on 27 June 1915, at Cape Helles (Dardanelles), when he went out under severe fire and brought in two wounded men from in front of an observing station. Again, on 14 July, he advanced beyond our lines at night, and brought in a wounded man under very heavy rifle fire. Bombardier Archbold on many previous occasions had displayed great resource and bravery in repairing telephone wires under shell and rifle fire.’ M.I.D. London Gazette 5 November 1915 John Archbold was born in Darlington, County Durham, in 1871 and attested for the Royal Field Artillery there on 6 April 1889. He served with the 17th Battery in South Africa during the Boer War from 25 January 1900 to 22 October 1902, and subsequently with the 44th Battery during the Great War on the Western Front from 16 August to 30 September 1914, being repatriated home after suffering a shell wound to his left side on 26 September 1914 (also entitled to a 1914 Star and clasp trio). He saw further service with the 97th Battery as part of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force from 20 Mach 1915 to 19 November 1917, again being repatriated home having suffered a severe gun shot wound to his right leg and side in October 1917, and was Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. He was discharged on 24 February 1919, after 19 years and 325 days’ service. Sold with copied service record and other research.

The unique ‘Aden operations 1903-04’ D.C.M. awarded to Lance-Corporal, later Company Quartermaster Sergeant, C. E. Dicker, Hampshire Regiment, who was subsequently wounded at Gallipoli in June 1915 Distinguished Conduct Medal, E.VII.R. (4715. Lce. Corpl. C. E. Dicker, 1st. Bn. Hamps. Regt.) officially engraved in running script, cleaned, nearly very fine, and a scarce instance of a gallantry award being awarded for an action where there was no corresponding campaign medal £1,200-£1,600 --- Five gallantry awards were awarded for services during the operations in connection with the protection of the Aden Boundary Commission, 1903-4: Four Distinguished Service Orders; and a single Distinguished Conduct Medal (to Dicker). D.C.M. London Gazette 14 April 1905: ‘In recognition of his gallant conduct during the operations in connection with the protection of the Aden Boundary Commission, 1903-4.’ Charles Edwin Dicker was born in Fareham, Hampshire, in 1875 and attested for the Hampshire Regiment at Winchester on 8 November 1895. He served with the 1st Battalion in India from 25 February 1898 to 13 January 1903, before proceeding to Aden in January 1903. The Hampshire Regiment in Aden 1903-04 ‘Britain first occupied Aden in 1839 and over the following decades extended its authority over the coastal tribes from Sheik Saad at the entrance to the Red Sea eastwards. Turkish influence also extended into Southern Arabia, and in 1872 the Turks occupied the Yemen, bringing them to the ill-defined border of the British sphere of influence. In an attempt to regularise the situation an Anglo-Turkish Boundary Commission was set up in 1902, but made little progress. The Turks then occupied Jalela and other villages on the British side of the boundary while, at the same time, tribesmen in the Aden hinterland became increasingly turbulent, intercepting mail and generally causing trouble. To counter these threats, three companies of the 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment under Major Lewis Munro were sent from India to Aden in January 1903. Headquarters and two further companies followed at the end of the month. By early February all five companies had been dispatched 70 miles inland from the port of Aden to Dtahala, the major town in the disputed area. As the British advanced the Turks withdrew into their own territory, and for a time it seemed no fighting would occur. Two Hampshire companies were sent to occupy Darrakan, west of Dthala, but the place proved to be rife with malaria and several men died before the units withdrew. Meanwhile, Arab unrest intensified, fuelled by a dislike of foreign troops on their soil. Tribesmen raided small convoys and sniped at the army camps, prompting the British to instigate punitive operations. These took the form of small columns sent out to destroy the offending Arab villages and to exact retribution. However, the columns found themselves operating in desolate country with little water and the Hampshire men were relieved when most moved back to Aden in May 1903. Aden, too, proved intolerably hot and officers who kept ponies had to pay for their water. Meanwhile, men who chose to bathe to keep cool had to beware of sharks. Those troops that remained in the Aden hinterland were occupied mainly in building roads and escorting surveying parties. However, they were also involved in further fierce skirmishes with Arab tribesmen which inevitably led to more punitive expeditions. The most serious fighting, against the particularly troublesome Kotaibis, took place in October 1903. A 1,500-strong Kotaibi force attacked a British post at Sulaiq, held by a small party of some British Indian soldiers. Two companies of the 1st Hampshire plus the headquarters were on their way from Aden to Dthala when the attack on Sulaiq took place and 100 men under Captain Arthur Beckwith were detached to join the relief column. This force successfully dislodged the Kotaibis around Sulaiq. Beckwith’s party, brought up to 250 rifles by the arrival of another detachment under Lieutenant Peter Connellan, then joined a mobile column which pursued the Kotaibis into the hills, capturing the village of Kariati in a night attack on 2nd November. The column then spent several days in punitive operations, mainly blowing up towers, and over the following week inflicted a series of defeats on the Kotaibis. Several more villages were destroyed, but the Kotaibis, by now wary of engaging the British at close quarters, confined themselves to long distance sniping. Battalion headquarters remained at Dthala until the end of December when it shifted to El Mileh and from there in January to Musemir, a fever-stricken village of mud huts in Wadi Tiba. Malaria was rife and, despite daily doses of quinine, nearly everyone there contracted the disease. By the time the Hampshires returned to the coast again in February malaria had cost the battalion 30 men. In May 1904, when the battalion was medically inspected and the Medical Officer walked between the ranks and fell out men suffering from malaria, many were actually shaking with it as they stood. So it was without regret when, on 29 May 1904, the battalion’s five companies, ten officers and 424 other ranks left Aden for home.’ (The 1st Hampshire in Aden and Somaliland, 1903, Royal Hampshire Regiment refers). Appointed Lance-Corporal on 29 February 1904, for his services in Aden Dicker was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Promoted Corporal on 23 February 1907, he saw further service with the 2nd Battalion overseas in South Africa from 31 December 1908 to 6 December 1911; in Mauritius from 7 December 1911 to 6 December 1913; and in India from 7 December 1913 to 23 December 1914. Promoted Sergeant on 10 December 1910, he was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal with gratuity per Army Order 99 of 1914. Appointed Company Quartermaster Sergeant on 4 May 1915, Dicker served with the 2nd Battalion during the Great War in Gallipoli from the first day of the Gallipoli campaign, 25 April 1915, and was wounded by a gun shot wound to the left thigh at Gallipoli on 19 June 1915. Further suffering shell shock at Gallipoli on 8 January 1916, he was hospitalised and, having returned home on 22 February 1916, was posted to the 3rd Battalion as Company Quartermaster Sergeant on 31 March 1916. He was discharged, no longer physically fit for war service, on 21 November 1917, after 22 years and 14 days’ service, and was awarded a Silver War Badge, no. 271977. Sold with copied service papers and other research.

Four: Lieutenant H. E. Elsworth, Royal Air Force, late Royal Warwickshire Regiment and York and Lancaster Regiment, later Southern Rhodesia Forces 1914-15 Star (7947 Pte. H. E. Elsworth. R. War: R.); British War and Victory Medals (2/Lieut. H. E. Elsworth. R.A.F.); Southern Rhodesia Service Medal; together with the related miniature awards (the 1914-15 Star a 1914 Star), these mounted as worn, good very fine and better, the last scarce in an attributable group (4) £400-£500 --- Harry Eugene Elsworth was born in Alexandria, Egypt, on 11 March 1898 and attested for the Royal Warwickshire Regiment at Atherstone on 16 September 1914, giving his year of birth as 1895. He served with the 10th Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 18 July 1915, and was wounded in action by gun shot to the left arm on 23 July 1916. Repatriated home two days later, he was commissioned temporary Second Lieutenant in the York and Lancaster Regiment on 28 March 1917, and transferred to the Royal Air Force on 18 May 1918, seeing active service as an Observer with 22 Squadron in Egypt. Promoted Lieutenant, he was transferred to the Unemployed List on 22 June 1919. Subsequently emigrating to Southern Rhodesia, he saw further service during the Second World War. Sold with copied service papers and other research.

A Great War D.C.M. group of six awarded to Warrant Officer Class II T. Parker, Seaforth Highlanders, later Scottish Rifles Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (10196 Sjt: T. Parker. 1/Sea: Hdrs.); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1908 (10... T. Parker 1st. Bn... rs.); 1914 Star, with copy clasp (10196 Pte. T. Parker. 1/Sea: Highrs.); British War and Victory Medals, with small M.I.D. oak leaves (... Cl. 2. T. Parker. Sea. Hig... ); Army L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (... Cl. 2. T. Parker. D.C.M. The Cameronians.) mounted for wear, heavy contact marks that has partially obscured naming, heavily polished and worn, therefore fair (6) £1,000-£1,400 --- D.C.M. London Gazette 14 January 1916; citation published 11 March 1916: ‘For conspicuous gallantry in carrying messages under heavy fire, showing great bravery and resource in conveying them safely through to their destinations.’ Thomas Parker was born in 1885 and attested for the Seaforth Highlanders on 27 February 1907. He served with the 1st Battalion in India, and saw active service on the North West Frontier in 1908. He saw further service with the 1st Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 12 October 1914, and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, almost certainly for his gallantry at Aubers Ridge on 9 May 1915 - on this date every form of communication was broken and only runners could be relied on for conveying messages, but many were killed. Heavy machine gun fire devastated the allied advance, with the wire found to be uncut, and the Battalion suffered total casualties of 21 officers and 488 other ranks killed, wounded, and missing. Subsequently transferring to the Scottish Rifles, Parker saw further service in the Persian Gulf from 25 November 1915 to 16 April 1916, and then in India for the rest of the War. Advanced Warrant Officer Class II and was appointed Company Sergeant Major, he subsequently served on the Permanent Staff as an Instructor with the 6th Battalion, Scottish Rifles. He was discharged on 28 February 1927, after 20 years and 2 days’ service. Sold with the recipient’s original Certificate of Service Red Book; two original photographs of the recipient; and copied research.

Five: Driver W. Hatton, Royal Horse Artillery, later Manchester Regiment Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Wittebergen (71205 Dvr: W. Hatton, R.H.A.,); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (71205 Dvr: W. Hatton. R.H.A.); 1914-15 Star (3033 Pte. W. Hatton, Manch. R.); British War and Victory Medals (3033 Pte. W. Hatton. Manch. R.) good very fine and better (5) £240-£280 --- William Hatton was born at Stalybridge, Lancashire, in 1871, and attested for the Royal Horse Artillery at Lancaster on 23 February 1889, having previously served in the 4th (Militia) Battalion, Royal Lancaster Regiment. He served with them in South Africa during the Boer War from 3 November 1899 to 26 February 1902. He was discharged on 26 March 1902, after 18 years and 32 days’ service. He saw further service with the Manchester Regiment during the Great War on the Western Front from 5 December 1914, before transferring to the Labour Corps, and was discharged, Class ‘Z’, on 18 February 1919. Sold with copied service papers and medal roll extracts.

Seven: Flight Lieutenant H. J. Read, Royal Air Force 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star, 1 clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Malaya, G.VI.R. (Flt. Lt. H. J. Read. R.A.F.) mounted court-style as worn, good very fine (7) £160-£200 --- Harold James Read was born on 14 August 1918 and enlisted in the Royal Air Force, serving with them throughout the Second World War. Posted as a navigator to 500 (County of Kent) Squadron, he is recorded in the Operations Record Book on numerous occasions from April 1943 until May 1944 flying in Hudson and Ventura aircraft in various patrolling capacities, usually described in the logbook as 'U-Boat hunt'. Commissioned Pilot Officer on 17 January 1944, he saw further service in post-War Malaya, and retired with the rank of Flight Lieutenant on 1 January 1964. Sold with extensive copied research.

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal (286 Tpr: C. H. Green. Johannesburg M.R.) suspension slack, very fine £90-£120 --- Christian H. Green attested into the Johannesburg Mounted Rifles and served during the Boer War. He saw further service with the Natal Volunteer Ambulance. Sold with copied medal roll extracts.

A rare Second War armed merchant cruiser operations D.S.M. group of eleven awarded to Leading Seaman L. R. V. White, Royal Fleet Reserve, late Mercantile Marine and Royal Navy, who was decorated for his gallant deeds in the famous South Atlantic clash between the Carnarvon Castle and enemy raider Thor. He was subsequently Mentioned in Despatches for his bravery when L.S.T. 422 was lost in a mine-field during a violent storm off Anzio on 26 January 1944 with the loss of over 450 lives Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (P.J. 49705 L. R. V. White, L./S., H.M.S. Carnarvon Castle); British War Medal 1914-20 (J. 49705 L. R. V. White, A.B., R.N.); Mercantile Marine War Medal 1914-18 (Leonard R. V. White); Victory Medal 1914-19 (J. 49705 L. R. V. White, A.B., R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf; Royal Fleet Reserve L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 2nd issue, coinage bust (J. 49705 (PO. B. 17439) L. R. V. White, L.S., R.F.R.) minor official corrections to naming on the first and last, the three Great War awards with edge bruising and polished, thus fine, the remainder good very fine and better (11) £1,800-£2,200 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Strong Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, May 2011. D.S.M. London Gazette 6 June 1941: ‘For great courage and devotion to duty in action against an armed merchant raider.’ The original recommendation states: ‘On the occasion of the action between H.M.S. Carnarvon Castle and a German armed raider on 5 December 1940, with all lights out, owing to the circuits being cut by a shell, and a hit just over the magazine causing a fire, he carried out his duty with the utmost courage, in the most trying conditions.’ M.I.D. London Gazette 1 August 1944. The original commendation from the Commander-in-Chief states: ‘It has been brought to my notice that on 26 January 1944, when L.S.T. 422 was lost by enemy action, the officers and ratings named above displayed great courage and devotion to duty in remaining aboard their ship, endeavouring to save her although she was heavily on fire and known to be carrying petrol and ammunition. The officers and ratings concerned are to be commended on their behaviour which was in accordance with the highest traditions of the Service.’ Leonard Richard Vincent White was born in Southampton, Hampshire in February 1900 and entered the Mercantile Marine as boy seaman in 1915, in which year he served in the Essequibo, Soudan and Walmer Castle. Transferring to the Royal Navy in February 1916, he served as a Boy 1st Class in H.M.S. Patia from May 1917 until January 1918, and, with the exception of three months ashore in early 1918, as an Able Seaman in H.M. Yacht Vanessa until the end of hostilities, his service record noting that he shared in the prize bounty for the destruction of a U-Boat - most probably the U-107 which fell victim to a depth-charge attack delivered by the Vanessa off the Yorkshire coast on 27 July 1918, confirmation of her “kill” including the headless body of a German sailor. Transferring to the Royal Fleet Reserve as a Leading Seaman in February 1930, White was awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in April 1933 and mobilised in his old rate on the renewal of hostilities in September 1939, when he joined the armed merchant cruiser Carnarvon Castle, in which capacity he was still serving at the time of her famous clash with the German raider Thor in the South Atlantic on 5 December 1940. Kenneth Poolman’s Armed Merchant Cruisers takes up the story: ‘Twenty minutes after the first shots had been fired the range was down to 14,000 yards, which gave Carnarvon Castle’s old guns a chance. Soon both ships were within range of each other. The German turned to port. Carnarvon Castle’s electrical fire control communications were badly shot up, making salvo firing difficult, but her gunners thought they had made hits on the enemy’s stern. The raider turned to starboard, made smoke and retired behind it, then reappeared again and opened fire with her starboard battery in four-gun salvos. At 8.38 p.m. Carnarvon Castle was rapidly closing the range when two torpedoes were sighted from the bridge, their white tracks on slightly diverging courses. Hardy turned the big A.M.C. under full helm to starboard and steered between them, and they passed harmlessly fifty yards away on either beam. Four minutes later the range was down to 8,000 yards. Thor, with the British shells going over her, turned right round to bring her port battery to bear once more, and hit Carnarvon Castle’s upperworks repeatedly, setting her on fire in several places. At ten minutes past nine Hardy decided to open the range and get the fires under control behind a smoke screen. All his fire control circuits were disabled and his guns in individual control. The haze had increased, and the enemy was continually turning smoke on and off, making spotting through the splashes of her shots very difficult and hitting a matter of luck, but from Carnarvon Castle they saw a shell burst under the enemy’s bridge at the extreme range of 14,000 yards. After that the A.M.Cs shells were falling short, while the German 5.9s were pitching round her. The raider continued firing until the range had opened to 18,000 yards. Hardy altered course to try and keep in touch, but the enemy disappeared behind his smokescreen and the ever increasing haze, steaming at 18 knots towards the north-east. Thor’s old guns were giving trouble with leaking recoil cylinders and barrels that would not train properly, but the Carnarvon Castle was in a far worse condition. It was 11.15 before she had put out all her fires. In view of her extensive damage Captain Hardy decided to steer for Montevideo. Commodore Pegram, who had succeeded Harwood in command of the South American Divison at the end of August, met Carnarvon Castle on 6 December in the cruiser Enterprise, inspected her damage and ordered her into Montevideo for repair, then sent Enterprise north to look for her opponent, but the raider had disappeared. Carnarvon Castle buried her six dead and reached Montevideo at 7 p.m. on 7 December with her sick bay full of wounded. Asturias returned to the South American Division once more, as her relief. The ship was too badly damaged to go into action again immediately, though there was no immediate need to dock her. The Uruguayan authorities granted her seventy-two hours to make immediate essential repairs. In contrast to the cold reception given to the Graf Spee a year previously when she had sought refuge from Admiral Harwood’s squadron, local repair firms were eager to offer their services to the British A.M.C., and some of the plates cut from the pocket battleship’s scuttled hulk out in the estuary were actually used to patch up Carnarvon Castle’s shell holes. With temporary repairs completed, Carnarvon Castle left for Table Bay, Cape Town. She was saluted by a special guard of honour as she passed through the harbour entrance.’ White, whose actions prevented the magazine blowing-up, was awarded the D.S.M., one of five ratings from Carnarvon Castle to be gazetted for the same distinction in June 1941, and he received his decoration at a Buckingham Palace investiture in April 1942, taking with him his wife and son to Buckingham Palace. As he late wrote: ‘It was shortly before that my wife lost all her family in an air raid.’ Departing the armed merchant cruiser in the following month, he served at the gunnery establishment Vernon and the Greenock base Orlando...

Four: Corporal F. G. Davey, Devonshire Regiment British War and Victory Medals (2944 Cpl. F. G. Davey. Devon. R.); Defence Medal 1939-45; Service Medal of the Order of St John (42594 Sgt. F. Davey: Devon. S.J.A.B. 1949) mounted for wear, very fine and better (4) £60-£80 --- Frederick George Davey was born in St Thomas, Exeter in 1883. A Gardener by trade he attested for the 4th (Territorial) Battalion Devonshire Regiment on 24 October 1914 and embarked for India on 12 December 1914, serving with 2/4th Battalion at Ferozepore until embarking to join the Egypt Expeditionary Force on 15 October 1917. On demobilisation he returned to Exmouth and saw further service during the Second World War as a Sergeant with the St John Ambulance Brigade, receiving his medal for 15 years’ service in the Order in 1949. He died at Budleigh Salterton on 27 October 1967, aged 84. Sold with copied service records and other research.

Charming Lladro porcelain figurine titled See-Saw, model number 01011255, in a rare matte finish. This beautifully sculpted piece features a young girl in a white dress and bonnet seated on one end of a seesaw, while a boy in a sailor outfit balances on the other. The matte finish enhances the soft, delicate details, giving the figurine a unique, velvety appearance. Crafted in Spain, this piece bears the traditional Lladro backstamp on the underside.Artist: Vincente MartinezDimensions: 10"HCountry of Origin: SpainCondition: Age related wear.

‘For most conspicuous gallantry. Lieutenant Dean handled his boat [M.L. 282] in a most magnificent and heroic manner when embarking the officers and men from the blockships at Zeebrugge. He followed the blockships in and closed Intrepid and Iphigenia under a constant and deadly fire from machine-guns at point blank range, embarking over one hundred officers and men. This completed, he was proceeding out of the canal, when he heard that an officer was in the water. He returned, rescued him, and then proceeded, handling his boat throughout as calmly as if engaged in a practice manoeuvre. Three men were shot down at his side whilst he conned his ship. On clearing the entrance to the canal the steering gear broke down. He manoeuvred his boat by the engines, and avoided complete destruction by steering so close in under the Mole that the guns in the batteries could not depress sufficiently to fire on to the boat. The whole of this operation was carried out under a constant machine-gun fire at a few yards range. It was solely due to this officer’s courage and daring that M.L. 282 succeeded in saving so many valuable lives.’ The citation for the award of Percy Dean’s V.C., refers. The outstanding and important Great War C.G.M. group of four awarded to Chief Motor Mechanic S. H. Fox, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, who was decorated for his gallantry in Percy Dean V.C.’s M.L. 282 in the famous St. George’s Day raid on Zeebrugge in 1918 Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, G.V.R. (M.B.1872. S. H. Fox. Ch. M.M., R.N.V.R. Zeebrugge-Ostend 22-3. Apl. 1918.); British War and Victory Medals (M.B.1872. S. H. Fox. C.M.M. R.N.V.R.); France, 3rd Empire, Croix de Guere 1914 1917, with bronze palm, mounted court-style for wear, nearly extremely fine (4) £10,000-£14,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Spink, June 1984 and March 1997. C.G.M. London Gazette 23 July 1918: ‘The following awards have also been approved.’ The original (joint) recommendation states: ‘The three ratings above mentioned were amongst those who volunteered to man Motor Launches detailed to rescue the crews of the blockships, and it was largely due to the coolness and courage with which the crews of these Motor Launches carried out their duties that so many officers and men were rescued. These three men displayed most conspicuous gallantry in the face of intense gun and machine-gun fire at short range.’ French Croix de Guerre: issued by authority of the Marine Nationale, Paris, 28 August 1918: ‘He volunteered to go out in a motor boat to pick up the crew of blockships under intense artillery and machine gun fire.’ Sydney Harold Fox was born at Wellington, New Zealand, on 19 June 1892, and joined the Royal Navy at that location as a Motor Mechanic in October 1916. He subsequently served in Motor Launches (M.L.s) of Attentive III from March 1917, was promoted to Chief Motor Mechanic on 1 July 1917, and continued in that role until March 1918, when he volunteered for the Zeebrugge raid as a Chief Motor Mechanic in M.L. 282. The extraordinary exploits of M.L. 282 in the epic St. George’s Day raid on Zeebrugge in April 1918 resulted in the award of the aforementioned V.C. to 41-year-old Percy Dean, in addition to Fox’s C.G.M., a D.S.M. to fellow Motor Mechanic Edward Whitmarsh and a D.S.C. to Lieutenant Keith Wright. In his post-raid report, Dean made special mention of the ‘excellent work’ done by these men The two-mile retreat from Zeebrugge, in full view of the enemy batteries on the Mole and elsewhere, probably created the greatest challenge of all. But Dean courageously responded by taking M.L. 282 right alongside the Mole wall, thus preventing the enemy gunners from being able to depress their guns low enough to engage him. Nonetheless, with his vessel crowded with over 100 men, many of them wounded or dying, it was an extraordinary feat to clear the harbour and gain the open sea, especially when the rudder was made redundant and it became necessary to steer directly by the engines - no doubt an episode in which Chief Motor Mechanic Fox proved to be a tower of strength: it was later discovered that the rudder’s steering lines had been obstructed by a corpse. Ultimately M.L. 282 was met by Admiral Keyes’s flagship, H.M.S. Warwick, and all her ‘passengers’ safely embarked. Keyes was greatly impressed by what he saw, afterwards recording in his despatch that he was ‘much struck with the gallant bearing of Lieutenant Dean and the survivors of his crew. They were all volunteers, and nearly all had been wounded and several killed.’ Indeed, only four members of this gallant M.L.’s company came through unscathed, testament indeed to the ferocity of the enemy’s fire and the highest gallantry of Fox and his shipmates. Fox subsequently served in M.L.’s in the Mediterranean from depot ship H.M.S. Caesar until posted to the British Caspian Flotilla to man C.M.B.’s in 1919, then to H.M.S. Julius at Constantinople, returning to the United Kingdom in March 1920 where he was discharged from the Navy on 20 June 1920, one of the last New Zealanders to be demobilised from the First World War. ’Amongst the New Zealanders who participated in the recent naval action at Zeebrugge was Mr. Sydney Fox, son of Mr. Louis H. Fox, house steward at the Wellington Hospital. Writing to his parents, Mr. Fox, who left New Zealand as a member of the first Motor Boat Patrol, gives some particulars of the fight. “We went up into the canal,” he writes, “to rescue the crews of two ships that we sank there. Well, there were only four of us on our ship who came out alive, and I was one of them. It was a very desperate job. The writer refers to one of his pals, Mr. Jack Batey, who was killed in the engagement. Mr. Batey, who formerly lived at New Plymouth, leaves a widow. At latest advice Mr. Fox was chief engineer of the vessel on which he was at the time of the Zeebrugge engagement. (Grey River Argus, 25 June 1918 refers). Sold with a file of research, including a photocopy of the recipient’s Croix de Guerre award certificate.

The M.V.O. group of three awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Lascelles, The Rifle Brigade, formerly Aide-de-Camp to Sir William Peel as a fifteen year old Naval Cadet with Shannon’s Naval Brigade The Royal Victorian Order, M.V.O. (4th Class) breast badge, silver-gilt, gold and enamels, the reverse officially numbered 434, in its Collingwood & Co case of issue, this also numbered 4/434; Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Lucknow (H. A. Lascelles, Naval Cadet. Shannon) fitted with silver ribbon buckle, first initial corrected; Ashantee 1873-74, 1 clasp, Coomassie (Capt. H. A. Lascelles, 2nd Bn. Rifle Bde. 1873-4) fitted with silver ribbon buckle, contact marks, otherwise about very fine, the first extremely fine (3) £5,000-£7,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Brian Ritchie Collection, March 2005. Henry Arthur Lascelles, the fourth son of the Right Honourable W. S. S. Lascelles, P.C., M.P., and the eldest daughter of the 6th Earl of Carlisle, was born on 4 December 1842, and entered the Royal Navy in 1855. In March 1857 he was one of seven Naval Cadets who sailed in H.M.S. Shannon (510 officers, men and boys, under Captain William Peel, V.C., R.N.) for the China Station. On the Shannon being diverted to India and the formation of the famous Naval Brigade, Lascelles accompanied the first party of 408 officers and men under Peel’s personal command up the Ganges on 18 August 1857, to Allalahabad, where the entire Brigade concentrated by 20 October. On the 27th, Lascelles continued the journey up country to Cawnpore with a party of 170 men and two 8-inch howitzers under, Shannon’s gunnery officer, Lieutenant Young, R.N. However, when the larger part of this detachment went on with the main body of the Naval Brigade to take part in the Second Relief of Lucknow, Cadets Lascelles and Watson, both barely fifteen years old, were left behind in an entrenched camp north east of Cawnpore with Lieutenant Hay’s rifle company of some fifty Bluejackets and Marines, and two naval 24-pounders, in General Windham’s force. Towards the end of November 1857 a body of rebels, which was being continually reinforced, appeared to the south of the city. To prevent them concentrating, Windham applied to Sir Colin Campbell for permission to take offensive action. Having received no answer after a week he determined to attack the main body. On the 25th a successful advance was made and four guns were taken from the mutineers of the Gwalior Contingent. Three days later, however, Windham was surprised by the enemy who opened a rapid artillery fire on the British forward camp. The Naval guns were immediately sent up to the junction of the Delhi and Calpee roads and returned fire for half an hour before running out of ammunition, whereupon the enemy infantry came on in strength and the British infantry, consisting of two battalions of the Rifle Brigade and H.M’s 88th Regiment, were ordered to fall back. As the Bluejackets and Marines were frantically trying to harness their guns to bullock teams, a shrapnel shell burst overhead causing the draught animals to stampede. In the words of Cadet Watson it then became ‘a case of every man for himself’, and the guns were temporarily abandoned. The ensuing rescue bid to retrieve the guns was made by the Bluejackets, the 88th and the Rifle Brigade who used their rifle slings in place of the missing traces. Lascelles, having determined to distinguish himself, went forward with the rescue party, but being too small and lacking the strength to be of much use in dragging the guns away, seized instead the rifle of a wounded man of the 88th Regiment and joined them in a bayonet charge. With the evacuation of Lucknow completed, Sir Colin Campbell returned to see off the rebel forces harassing Windham’s entrenchment. Cadet Watson wrote, ‘On the 29th Lascelles and I were looking over the parapet when we saw a round shot kick up the dust just outside, and over it came, just over us. Lascelles slipped and I bobbed to avoid it, and over we went both of us together! Such a jolly lark we had, and everyone laughing at us. On the 30th Sir Colin Campbell, from Lucknow, having heard the news of our being shut up, arrived with a large force to our rescue, with jolly old Captain Peel.’ Peel, the remarkable son of the great statesman, Sir Robert, now appointed Lascelles and Watson his Aides-de-Camp. Captain Oliver Jones, R.N., a Half-Pay officer who had come out to India ‘for a lark’ to see what fighting could be done, was evidently impressed with the youngsters’ sang froid: ‘Peel’s A.D.C’s’ he wrote, were ‘fine little Mids., about fifteen years old, who used to stick to him like his shadow under whatever fire he went, and seemed perfectly indifferent to the whizzing of bullets or the plunging of cannon-balls’. Early on the morning of the Third Battle of Cawnpore, on 6 December, Peel called his A.D.C’s and told them that there was to be ‘a grand attack’ and that they were ‘not to run and blow and go head over heels and get out of breath’. At about nine o’clock they moved off on foot, jogging alongside Peel’s horse, and after a preliminary bombardment of the rebel position, the enemy were driven back. The real work of the day then began with Lascelles and Watson joining the pursuit through and beyond the rebel camp for no less than ten miles. ‘It was most awfully exciting’, Watson told his Mama afterwards, though he was also forced to admit, ‘the only way I could keep up ... was to say to my self “Hoicks over, Hoicks over, Fox Ahead!”’. That night Lascelles and Watson slept deeply if not comfortably under a captured gun. Lascelles went on to take part in the capture of Futtehghur, the action of Kallee Nuddee and the final capture of Lucknow where with Mate Edmund Verney, Lieutenant Vaughan and Midshipman Lord Walter Kerr, he went forward amidst the dead and the dying to have a look at the Kaiserbagh. Here, however, they met Sir Colin Campbell who interrupted their sight seeing by ordering them to man a captured gun and turn it on the enemy still holding out close by. For his services in the Mutiny Lascelles received a mention in despatches on 29 July 1858 from Vaughan, who had been instructed by the late and much lamented Sir William Peel, who had died from smallpox, to write a letter to their Lordships at the Admiralty giving an account of the movements of the Brigade and bringing to their Lordships attention those whom he had not had the opportunity of publicly mentioning in despatches. Thus, Vaughan concluded his list with the names of Mr H. A. Lascelles and Mr E. S. Watson, ‘Aides-de-Camp to Sir William Peel, and always in attendance on him in action.’ In 1860, Lascelles left the Navy and was commissioned Ensign in the Rifle Brigade. Promoted Lieutenant in 1865 and Captain in 1872, he embarked with the 2nd Battalion in 1874 to take part in the second phase of the Ashanti War, during which he was present at the battle of Amoaful, advance guard skirmishes and ambuscade actions between Adwabin and the River Ordah, the battle of Ordahsu and the capture of Coomassie. He retired as a Major in February 1882 and was given the Honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He married the following year, Caroline, the daughter of the Hon. C. Gore, and became Assistant Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for War. He eventually settled in West Sussex at Woolbeding House, near Midhurst, where he was instrumental in raising considerable funds for the building of the King Edward VII Sanatorium a...

The notable Northern Ireland and South Atlantic campaign group of three awarded to Sergeant (later Lieutenant) I. D. Fisk, Royal Marines, who was mentioned in despatches for gallantry whilst serving as Missile/Gun Director aboard H.M.S. Yarmouth, when during repeated Argentine air attacks ‘his efforts were rewarded by at least two confirmed kills’ General Service 1962-2007, 1 clasp, Northern Ireland (P028197B I. D. Fisk L. Cpl RM); South Atlantic 1982, with rosette and M.I.D. oak leaf (Sgt I D Fisk P028197B RM); Royal Navy L.S. &  G.C., E.II.R., 2nd issue (Lt I D Fisk RM) mounted as worn, good very fine (3) £4,000-£5,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, May 2016. M.I.D. London Gazette 8 October 1982. The original recommendation states: 'During the period of the Falklands conflict, Sergeant Fisk served as Missile/Gun Director (Visual) in H.M.S. Yarmouth. In the period prior to hostilities he used considerable initiative to acquire and mount extra close range Anti-Aircraft weapons on the upper deck and trained crews to use them. During hostilities and, in particular, during amphibious operations in San Carlos Water the days following (21 May-2 June), the ship came under numerous air attacks. Throughout these attacks Sergeant Fisk conducted the close range Air defence of the ship from his exposed position on the G.D.P. with exceptional vigour, courage and leadership. His efforts were rewarded by at least two confirmed kills and several other aircraft were damaged or deterred by close range weapons. Throughout long periods of less immediate danger, but often in appalling weather, between late April and late June he sustained the morale and vigilance of his lookouts and weapon crews in their exposed positions. Although no single act of gallantry or leadership can be cited, Sergeant Fisk's stamina, courage and leadership made a major contribution to the effectiveness of the ship over a prolonged period and are worthy of recognition.’ A further endorsement on his recommendation, signed by Admiral J. D. E. Fieldhouse, states: ‘Sergeant Fisk showed outstanding courage, resource and leadership during repeated air attacks. He is recommended for the award of a Mention in Despatches.’ Ian David Fisk joined H.M.S. Yarmouth in August 1981 and had been serving in the Royal Marines for 12 years at the time of being recommended for his “Mention” in June 1982. The Yarmouth was a Type 12 Rothsay Class Frigate and steamed almost 40,000 miles in the period April-July 1982, often in atrocious conditions. She arrived off the Falklands in late April and quickly saw action. When on 4 May Sheffield was hit by an Exocet missile, Arrow and Yarmouth having narrowly been missed by a second missile, went to her aid. While Arrow was fighting the fire, Yarmouth fought off a possible submarine attack. She then joined Arrow alongside Sheffield and fought the fire until the destroyer was abandoned and the survivors taken off. For the next four days of foggy weather Yarmouth remained with the carrier group, before being despatched to take the still floating Sheffield in tow. She went along­ side the stricken ship in the early hours of 9 May and passed a tow. For twenty-nine hours Sheffield, with her White Ensign still flying, was towed much of the time in daylight and within range of enemy aircraft until, as the wind increased to gale force, the towed ship heeled over and, at 7a.m. on 10 May, sank. Yarmouth headed back towards the Task Force. A week of storms followed and Yarmouth, the oldest escort ship in the Tank Force, rode out the weather with no damage despite her twenty-two years. On 19 May, the amphibious landing group arrived, joined the Task Force and headed West to the Falkland Sound. The amphibious landing took place in the early hours of the 21 May in San Carlos Water. Yarmouth’s task was to provide anti-submarine and anti-air Protection. Throughout the bright, sunny day she patrolled in Falkland Sound as enemy Mirage and A4 aircraft attacked both the landing area in San Carlos Water and the ships protecting the landing force. During one such attack in the afternoon, Ardent was hit and set on fire. Shortly afterwards a wave of Skyhawks again attacked Ardent which immediately began to list and to burn more fiercely. Yarmouth went to her aid and took off the ship's company as the fire spread towards the magazines. She then headed for San Carlos Water where she transferred Ardent’s crew to the Canberra before resuming her patrol in the Sound. The next ten days saw Yarmouth in San Carlos Water by day and leaving at dusk each night to carry out a variety of tasks including shore bombardment, anti-submarine patrols, covert operations and escorting merchant ships to and from the landing area. Each morning at dawn she returned to San Carlos Water to provide anti-aircraft protection for the landing ships. This was a particularly testing, time for the two hundred and fifty men onboard as they spent the daylight hours at Action Stations, subject to frequent air attacks, and with little time for sleep at night. Many ships present at that time suffered damage from air attacks and only the concentrated fire of Yarmouth’s 4.5, inch and 20mm. guns, Seacat missile and small arms kept the enemy air­craft at bay. After this testing period, Yarmouth sailed East to the repair area and spent two days with a repair ship where she carried out essential maintenance before rejoining the Task Force. Most nights during the following week 6-13 June the ship was in­volved in bombarding enemy positions to the West of Port Stanley with her 4.5 inch guns. During the conflict she fired well over a thousand rounds, some thirty-two tons of shells. The ship’s machinery performed marvellously as Yarmouth dashed nearly two hundred miles each way to and from the Islands at high speed to carry out the bombardment by night and arrive back with the battle group to replenish fuel and ammunition before heading inshore once more. On one such mission the ship encountered a small coaster packed with Gurkhas and essential supplies, immobilised by a rope around her propeller and prey for enemy aircraft. Yarmouth’s diving team freed her screws, and the vessel was able to proceed to Goose Green. On another night the frigate stood by and provided firefighting and medical aid to the Glamorgan when the destroyer was hit by an Exocet missile fired from shore near Port Stanley. After Port Stanley had been re-taken, Yarmouth was despatched to South Georgia, an island of glaciers and icebergs, and from there to Southern Thule to join Endurance and enforce the surrender of the Argentine contingent there. She later took the prisoners of war from South Georgia to Port Stanley.­ On 7 July, after several more days patrolling with the Battle Group, she began her eight thousand mile voyage home in company with Exeter and Cardiff.  Apart from invincible she was the last of the original Task Force to leave the area.

The magnificent G.C.B., G.C.V.O. group awarded to Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Frederick Hotham, Royal Navy, the only man known to have been eligible for two differently dated New Zealand campaign medals The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, G.C.B. (Military) Knight Grand Cross set of insignia, comprising sash badge, 18 carat gold and enamels, hallmarked London 1887, and breast star, silver with gold and enamel appliqué centre; The Royal Victorian Order, G.C.V.O., Knight Grand Cross set of insignia, comprising sash badge and breast star, silver-gilt and enamels, both pieces unnumbered; Jubilee 1887, clasp, 1897, silver; Coronation 1902, silver; Coronation 1911; New Zealand 1845-66, reverse dated 1860 to 1861 (Chas. Hotham. Midn. & Lieut. Naval Brigade 1860. 61. 63. 64.) officially engraved naming; Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 1 clasp, Alexandria 11th July (Capt: C. F. Hotham. C.B. R.N. H.M.S. “Alexandra.”); Khedive’s Star, dated 1882, unless otherwise described, very fine or better (10) £8,000-£10,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Douglas Morris Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, February 1997; Alan Hall Collection, June 2000. Charles Hotham was born on 20 March 1843, a descendent of Baron Hotham (created 1621). He entered the Royal Navy as a Naval Cadet aboard H.M.S. Forte on 14 February 1856, and served aboard James Watt and Cordelia from 1857 to 1860, receiving promotion to Midshipman in February 1858. He joined Pelorus from 27 December 1860 to December 1862, and whilst in this vessel he took part in the early actions of the Second Maori War in 1860-61. He was promoted to Sub Lieutenant on 20 March 1862, and to Lieutenant on 17 February 1863 whilst at Excellent. His next appointment was to Curacoa on 20 April 1863, in home waters but this vessel was subsequently transferred to the Australian Station and was quickly engaged in action during the latter part of the Second Maori War. Hotham saw action during a frontal assault on 20 November 1863, on the Maori Redoubt at Ragariri by 90 seamen, armed with revolvers and cutlasses, from H.M. Ships Eclipse, Curacoa and Miranda, under Commander R. C. Mayne, where they were twice repulsed. During another immediate assault led by Commander Phillimore and Lieutenant Downes, First Lieutenant of Miranda, on 20 November 1863, Charles Hotham suffered a severe gun shot wound in the lower half of his right leg. The Surgeon reported ten days later than he was doing well. Hotham's conduct was favourably noticed by Commodore Wiseman on 30 November 1863 and was reported to the Admiralty (London Gazette 13 February 1864). Some time previously he had been sent in charge of a detached party of seamen to escort a Military Officer across mud flats in the rear of the enemy's position, 'for which services he was specially mentioned'. He was also Mentioned in Despatches on a further three occasions (see London Gazettes of 13 February 1864, 19 February 1864, and 15 July 1864). The Admiralty authorised his promotion to Commander as soon as possible commensurate with his completion of the correct amount of sea time by London Gazette 15 July 1864. He received his promotion to Commander on 19 April 1865 when he was only 23 years old, and after being paid off from Curacoa in July 1865, he was placed on half pay for two years. Hotham’s next appointment was the Command of Jaseur from 1867 to 1871, where he received promotion to Captain on 29 December 1871, aged 28 years. He subsequently Commanded Charybdis from 1877 to 1880, and served as Flag Captain of Alexandra from November 1881 to February 1883. In the latter vessel he was engaged during the Egyptian War in the attacks on the forts at Alexandria, and was publicly thanked for his services four days later on 15 July 1882. He was appointed Chief of Staff of the Naval Brigade, and by London Gazette dated 19 July 1882 was awarded the C.B., and Osmanieh 3rd Class. Hotham commanded Ruby from April 1885 to March 1886, and during 1887 he was appointed Assistant to the Admiral Superintendent of the Naval Review and was awarded the Jubilee Medal. He was promoted to Rear-Admiral on 6 January 1888, aged 45 years, and appointed a Lord of the Admiralty from January 1888 to December 1889. His next appointment was Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station from 1890 to 1893, flying his flag aboard Warspite. He was promoted to Vice-Admiral on 1 September 1893 and awarded the K.C.B. on 24 May 1895. From December 1897 until July 1899 Hotham was Commander-in-Chief Sheerness, flying his flag aboard Wildfire. Following Promotion to Admiral on 13 January 1899, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief Portsmouth in October 1900, until promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 30 August 1903. At the Funeral of Queen Victoria on 2 February 1901, he was a supporter of the Royal Coffin, and was subsequently awarded the G.C.V.O. He was awarded the G.C.B. on 9 November 1902 for services at the Coronation of King Edward VII. Hotham died on 22 March 1925. He is the only man known to have been eligible for two differently dated New Zealand Campaign Medals, serving aboard Pelorus as a Midshipman for the 1860-61 Campaign, and aboard Curacoa as a Lieutenant R.N. for the 1863-64 battles. Men who fought in two separately dated actions were not entitled to a clasp (or a second differently dated Medal) for their additional participation. When such an instance occurred, as happened in this unique case, it was marked solely by extra details engraved on the edge of his 1860-61 dated Medal (i.e., 'Midn and Lieut Naval Brigade 1860-61-63-64'). He also received the rare distinction of being awarded all of the Jubilee and Coronation Medals issued between 1887 and 1911. Charles Hotham’s obituary given in The Times, 22 March 1925, states: ‘Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Hotham, G.C.B., G.C.V.O., the Senior Officer of his rank in the Royal Navy, whose death was announced, came of a distinguished naval family which has given many sons to the Imperial Forces. The eldest son of Captain John Hotham, his great Grandfather was a brother of the first Baron Hotham and thus the Admiral of the Fleet was related in the second and third degree to innumerable other naval officers. He gravitated to the Royal Navy almost as a matter of course, and won early advancement to the highest positions. He was a member of that important Board of the Admiralty which, under Lord George Hamilton, was responsible in 1889 for the great Naval Defence Act, which considerably raised the strength of the Fleet and placed the sea power of the Empire on a firm basis. Although he later held high Command afloat, and filled administrative posts ashore, it was not his good fortune to participate in the war work of the Fleet which he had helped to create. He had, however, the rare distinction of being appointed Commander in Chief on three occasions, China, the Nore and Portsmouth. ‘Charles Frederick Hotham was born on 20 March 1843 and entered the Royal Navy in 1856 when he was barely 13. He was not yet 20 when he was promoted to Lieutenant and, while serving in this rank in Curacoa, flag ship on the Australian Station, he was engaged in the New Zealand War of 1863 where, in Command of a party of small arm men, he repeatedly distinguished himself, and especially at the attack on Rangariri in November 1863. His conduct was favourably reported at the Admiralty and backed up by his previous good record. He obtained Commander's rank as soon as he had completed the required two years Lieutenant's service. From 1867 to 1870 he Commanded the Jaseur, screw gun vessel serving in the Mediterranean and on the West Cost of Africa and in December 1871 being ...

The outstanding Great War ‘River Tigris’ operations D.S.O. group of four awarded to Lieutenant-Commander Mark Singleton, Royal Navy, who accomplished the remarkable feat in his small armed tug of bringing to surrender a body of about 11 officers and 250 Turkish troops; indeed it was the opinion of the official historian of the campaign that greater daring than Singleton’s cool audacity could hardly be imagined Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamels, with integral top riband bar; 1914-15 Star (Lieut. M. Singleton. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Lt. Commr. M. Singleton. R.N.) contained in an old leather case, good very fine (4) £4,000-£5,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, September 2016. D.S.O. London Gazette 13 September 1915: ‘For his services during the advance from Qurnah and capture of Amara at the beginning of June 1915. Lieutenant Singleton was in command of the armed launch Shaitan, and displayed great skill and energy in pursuit of the enemy gunboat Mamariss and other craft. He went ahead of the main force through Amara in a gallant manner, and performed the remarkable feat in his small armed tug of bringing to surrender a body of about 11 officers and 250 Turkish troops, whom he had intercepted, and causing a large number to retire, thus largely contributing to the surrender of the town.’ M.I.D. London Gazette 21 January 1916; 5 April 1916; and 21 September 1917. Mark Singleton was born in Theale Wedmore, Somerset, on 24 June 1887, and entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in Britannia in May 1902. Advanced to Sub. Lieutenant in May 1907 and to Lieutenant in December 1909, he was serving in the base ship H.M.S. Espiegle in the Persian Gulf on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, and was subsequently employed with naval units co-operating with military forces in Mesopotamia. By May 1915 the Turks had been driven from the lower reaches of the Tigris, and in order that the Navy might render assistance to the Army in following them up, a number of flat bottomed tug boats were commandeered and commissioned as H.M. Ships for use on the river. One of these, the Shaitan, was placed under Singleton’s command. Crewed by eight men, his boat was armed with a 12-pounder quick-firing gun in her bows and a smaller gun aft. Advancing from Qurnah in June, the Shaitan, due to Singleton’s skilful boat handling, got ahead of the other small craft, and reached a point three miles south of Amara on her own. As she entered the reach of the river immediately below the town, which was situated on the east bank, large numbers of enemy troops were seen crossing the river to the western bank by a bridge of boats and getting into a barge secured to the Turkish gun boat Mamarris. The bridge of boats was then opened, the enemy gun boat clearly going to depart up river. Singleton immediately opened fire with the 12-pounder, causing the troops to abandon the barge for a safer spot on the west bank. Shaitan then steamed on and as she passed through the bridge of boats found the town was occupied in force. Half a battalion of Turks, moving through the streets to the river front, smartly retreated. Around the next bend on both banks yet more troops were retiring from the Shaitan which was in effect surrounded. The Turks held their fire for fear of drawing the attention of Shaitan’s 12-pounder, and she continued upstream for about half a mile, whence Singleton called on a party of about two hundred Turks with six officers to surrender. The Bluejacket’s disarmed them and, taking their weapons on board, compelled them to march down river abreast of the tug. On the way back to Amara, Singleton took more prisoners, who emerged from trees and threw down their arms; and, unattended, the sorry Turkish party obediently walked to the now deserted town where they sat down by a coffee shop and awaited the arrival of British troops. Thus Singleton, at the expenditure of only two or three shells, captured 250 Turkish troops and 11 officers and contributed largely to the evacuation of Amara by 2000 troops. It was the opinion of the official historian of the campaign that greater daring than the Singleton’s cool audacity could hardly be imagined. He was awarded the D.S.O. Having taken part in further advances up river over the course of the next three months, and been mentioned in despatches, Singleton, due to heavy casualties and sickness, became the Senior Naval Officer on the Tigris although only 26 years of age. And in February 1916, he was given command of the 98-ton gunboat Stonefly, in which capacity he was twice mentioned in despatches for further actions on the Tigris and the Euphrates. Returning home in January 1918, he was invested with his D.S.O. at Buckingham Palace that March and saw out the War with the Harwich Force in command of the destroyer Patrician. Placed on the Retired List on account of ill-health in December 1923, the gallant Singleton died on 21 December 1952. Sold with copied research, including record of service and extracts from Deeds that Thrill the Empire, and Tigris Gunboats by Vice-Admiral Wilfrid Nunn.

The rare Second War crossing of the Elbe M.M. awarded to Marine D. Towler, 45 Commando, Royal Marines. As a sniper at the crossing of the Rhine in March 1945, ‘he kept the Huns jittery near the factory area in Wesel’, where he ‘killed at least ten and wounded others in thirty-six hours fighting’; as his Troop’s Bren gunner at the Elbe crossing in April 1945, he faced off two enemy attacks: ‘two dead Germans were within 10 yards of his gun and eleven others dead or wounded in the immediate vicinity’ Military Medal, G.VI.R. (EX.4188 Mne. D. Towler. R. Marines.) in its named card box of issue, extremely fine £1,800-£2,200 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- M.M. London Gazette 7 August 1945: ‘For distinguished service whilst attached to the Allied Armies in the invasion operations in North-West Europe.’ The original recommendation states: ‘On the night of the Elbe crossing Mne. Towler was a Bren Gunner in D Troop 45 RM Commando. His Troop became involved in confused street fighting in the dark on its way to its objective. Mne. Towler was ordered to take up a position to cover a flank whilst his Troop pushed on. He selected a position in a house and engaged the enemy immediately. A section attack was put in against his house by the enemy. This was beaten off by steady and accurate shooting. As his ammunition was getting low, Mne. Towler sent his No. 2 of the gun to get more. During his absence another attempt was made by the enemy to dislodge Mne. Towler. Again this was beaten off. When his No. 2 returned together with a sub section to assist, there was only one magazine left containing a few rounds. Two dead Germans were within ten yards of the gun and eleven other dead or wounded in the immediate vicinity. Although Mne. Towler was not actually wounded he was considerably grazed by brick splinters and stones raised by the 2cm. flak guns which were used against his position. Mne. Towler's tenacity and determination was largely responsible for this troop being able to push on, without undue interference, to their objective.’ Douglas Towler was an employee of the Northern Co-operative Dairies in Aberdeen prior to joining the Royal Marines. Having then volunteered for special service, he joined 45 R.M. Commando on its formation in August 1943. As part of the 1st Special Service Brigade under Brigadier Lord Lovat, ‘45’ took heavy casualties on coming ashore on Gold Beach on D-Day, suffering a loss of three officers and 17 men killed or wounded, and one officer and 28 men missing. Those grim statistics were depressingly enlarged upon in the coming weeks of the Normandy campaign, up until ‘45’s’ withdrawal to the U.K. for a ‘refit’ in September 1944 Now part of First Commando Brigade, ‘45’ returned to an operational footing in Holland in January 1945, and was quickly in action at the battle of Montforterbeek, where Lance-Corporal Eric Harden of the R.A.M.C., attached to the Commando, gained a posthumous V.C. A costly attack on Belle Isle on the Mass having followed, among other actions, Towler and his comrades were next deployed to the crossing of the Rhine on the night of 23-24 March 1945. Their objective was Wesel, where Towler received a shrapnel wound but remained on duty. In fact, as evidenced by an accompanying local newspaper report, he took a heavy toll on the enemy: ‘Marine Dougles Towler of 12 Hayton Road, Aberdeen, a former employee of the Northern Co-operative Dairies, was the Commando man who kept the Huns jittery near a factory area in Wesel after the Rhine crossing. With the Jerries sometimes only twenty-five yards away, Towler, a sniper, kept picking them off and killed at least ten and wounded others in thirty-six hours’ fighting. “As the Huns were so near,” he said, “I kept changing my position in case they started mortaring me. Every time one showed himself, I let go at him. I was in the factory area on one side of the railway and the Germans on the other side of the railway lines. On one occasion I noticed they were forming up for a counter-attack, so I covered a little gap in the hedge. Sure enough, the Jerries kept passing by, and I just shot them down. The counter-attack never materialised. A German twelve-man patrol once approached my position, so I opened fire, and the patrol disappeared. As the enemy were so near the only answer was sniping to make them keep their heads down and keep them jittery. I saw many of them when I fired just cut their equipment off and make a bolt for it.” Towler is regarded among his Commando officers as a man who always keeps his finger on the trigger.’ Indeed, Towler certainly lived up to his reputation in Operation ‘Enterprise’, the Elbe crossing on the night of 28-29 April 1945, when ‘45’ were embarked in Buffaloes before advancing on the town of Lauenberg. Here, as cited above, he performed most gallant work in facing off two spirited German attacks with his Bren gun, thereby adding to his growing tally of enemy dead. In his book Commando Men, Bryan Samain relates the story of how Towler’s ‘B’ Troop carried out an attack on an enemy ack-ack battery the following day. In it he refers to ‘a young Scots Bren-gunner, Marine Norman Towler’. Given the latter’s fearless conduct on that occasion, it seems more likely it was in fact Douglas Towler: ‘Moving off under the command of John Day, the Troop closed to within one hundred yards of the battery. At this stage the Germans suddenly opened up, spraying the road and surrounding buildings with a vicious fusillade of 37-millimetre shells. Baker Troop immediately scattered for cover, and the whole street became alive with orange-coloured flashes as the shells smacked and roared into the already shattered fabric of blasted buildings. The men of Baker Troop crouched low behind what cover they could find, awaiting the order to move forward and assault the battery. Meanwhile, as John Day started to shout preliminary orders above the roar of gunfire, a young Scots Bren-gunner, Marine Norman Towler, got to his feet and coolly returned the enemy fire from an exposed position. For some unknown reason the Germans suddenly stopped firing. Perhaps they were too flabbergasted by Towler’s action to continue: but whatever the reason, it made them lose the day, for Baker Troop seized the initiative and rushed the battery. Within minutes the guns had all been overrun, and something like fifty prisoners rounded up, including some German W.A.A.F.s, who emerged coyly from a series of dugouts.’ Towler was discharged from the Commandos in November 1945, when he was described as ‘an exceptionally fine, upstanding type of soldier.’ Sold with a quantity of original documents, including the recipient’s Buckingham Palace forwarding letter for his M.M., his C.O.’s testimonial and character reference, and a letter to his wife regarding his shrapnel wounds in March 1945, together with some wartime newspaper cuttings and a copy of Bryan Samain’s book Commando Men.

The unique and poignant Great War M.C., D.C.M., M.M. group of seven awarded to Sub-Lieutenant C. B. Wheeler, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, attached Royal Naval Division, who was twice wounded Later a member of the Federation of Malaya State Volunteer Force, he died of wounds at Singapore in February 1942, while serving as a recently appointed 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps - or was a victim of the shocking Japanese atrocities Military Cross, G.V.R.; Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (CZ-2224 P.O. C. B. Wheeler. Nelson Bn., R.N.V. R.); Military Medal, G.V.R. (CZ-2224 A.L.S. C. B. Wheeler. Nelson Bn., R.N.V.R.); 1914-15 Star (CZ-2224 C. B. Wheeler, A.B., R.N.V.R.); British War and Victory Medals (S. Lt. C. B. Wheeler. R.N.V.R.); Efficiency Medal, G.VI.R., 1st issue, Malaya (Sgt. Colin B. Wheeler, M.C., D.C.M., M.M. F.M.S.V.F.), mounted court-style as worn, generally good very fine (7) £14,000-£18,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, September 2013. The combination of M.C., D.C.M., M.M. is unique to the Royal Naval Division. M.C. London Gazette 15 February 1919: ‘On 27 September 1918 he was in charge of the section of two Stokes guns and was following his Battalion when the Battalion was suddenly held up by hostile machine gun fire. Taking a Lewis gun he crawled forward and cleared the enemy post thus helping the Infantry to obtain their objective. On 30 September 1918 at the Canal de L’Escaut, he again did good work causing considerable casualties to the enemy with a Lewis gun. Throughout the operations he showed conspicuous gallantry and able leadership.’ D.C.M. London Gazette 17 April 1917: ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He handled three trench mortars with marked ability, and greatly assisted in clearing up a difficult situation. He set a fine example throughout.’ M.M. London Gazette 26 March 1917. Colin Bain Wheeler was born on 6 July 1896, and enlisted in the Clyde Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as an Ordinary Seaman in November 1914. Posted to Nelson Battalion, Royal Naval Division in June 1915, he was embarked for the Dardanelles, but was wounded in Gallipoli on 13 July and admitted to hospital in Alexandria - a sojourn extended by a bout of scarlet fever. Rejoining his battalion at Mudros in January 1916, he was embarked for France in May, and was transferred to 189th Stokes Mortar Battery, R.N.D., in which capacity he won his M.M. as an Acting Leading Seaman. Douglas Jerrold’s history takes up the story: ‘Such was the situation half-an-hour after the attack, when Lt.-Colonel Monro, commanding the Hood Battalion, was wounded, and Lt.- Commander Asquith, who had gone forward on the heels of his old battalion in the slender disguise of staff learner studying the effects of the artillery barrage, took command. To his energy and enthusiasm the success of the 189th Brigade's operations on this occasion was largely due. Well before 8 a.m. on the 4th, Lt.-Commander Asquith had got the Hood Battalion back to their correct alignment, and although touch could not be gained with the Hawke Battalion (who had probably by now edged further to the left, assuming the attack to have failed on the right) the situation was no longer critical. Dawn saw us with a fair hold on all our objectives, but with an awkward gap in the first and second enemy lines, and a machine-gun post still obstructing the consolidation of the essential defensive flank. The history of the rest of the battle is soon told. Several attempts to subdue the two strong points and to close the gaps were made during the morning of the 4th, but without success. At 3.50 p.m., however, the enemy post on our left was rushed by the Nelson and Hawke after an effective bombardment from a Stokes gun, skilfully handled by Leading Seaman Wheeler, of the 189th L.T.M. Battery.’ Having then been advanced to Petty Officer and added the D.C.M. to his accolades for the above cited deeds, he was wounded on 24 April 1917 and evacuated home. Then in October of the same year, he joined an Officer Cadet Battalion in Ayrshire, from which he emerged as a newly commissioned Temporary Sub-Lieutenant in April 1918. Ordered back to France that August, when he joined Anson Battalion, Wheeler was detached for service in the 188th Light Trench Mortar Battery, R.N.D. in the following month, and won his third decoration for his good work with a Lewis gun a few days later - thereby winning the unique distinction of having won the M.C., D.C.M. and M.M. for services in the R.N.D. Demobilised in June 1919, he stated that he intended to take up employment as a tea planter and, true to his word, settled in Malaya. A long-served member of the Federated Malay States Volunteer Force, he was awarded the Efficiency Medal in June 1938 (The F.M.S. Government Gazette refers), but his subsequent part in the desperate struggle for Singapore in February 1942 appears to have been undertaken as a recently appointed 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (London Gazette 31 March 1942 refers). By the latter date, however, he was dead, official records listing his demise as 14 February, the day before the surrender of the colony. Moreover, he is listed on the Singapore Civil Hospital Grave Memorial, a sure indication of a sorry end: ‘During the last hours of the battle of Singapore, wounded servicemen taken prisoner and civilians massacred by the Japanese were brought to the hospital in their hundreds. Many were already dead on arrival, many more succumbed later, and the number of fatalities was such that burial in a normal manner was impossible. Before the war an emergency water tank had been dug in the grounds of the hospital, and this was used as a grave. Some 300 civilians and 107 members of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth were buried in this collective grave ... A bronze panel, affixed to the memorial over the original grave, bears the inscription, ‘Beneath this Cross lie 107 British soldiers and 300 civilians of many races, victims of man’s inhumanity to man, who perished in captivity in February 1942. The soldiers are commemorated by name at Kranji War Cemetery.’ The exact nature of Wheeler’s end at the hands of the Japanese will probably never be known, but events at nearby Alexandra Hospital are worthy of mention in the current context. Sinister Twilight, by Noel Barber, takes up the story: ‘While this was happening, other Japanese troops were forcing all the patients to get out of the wards. The men who could not move were bayoneted. In the broiling heat, two hundred patients - together with a few R.A.M.C. personnel - were paraded in the grounds. All the patients were desperately ill. Some could barely hobble. Many collapsed. It made no difference. Herding them into groups of four or five, the Japanese roped them together with their hands behind their backs. They were then marched to the old servants’ quarters behind the hospital - a building consisting of several small rooms, ranging in size from nine feet by nine to ten by twelve. Between fifty and seventy patients were jammed into each room. Wedged together, it was impossible for them to sit down and it took several minutes for some patients to get their arms above their heads and make a little more room in this modern version of the Black Hole of Calcutta. There they were left for the night. Water was promised but none arrived - though those nearest the open windows could watch the Japanese soldiers sitting down on the grass, eating tinned fruit. From time to ti...

The rare Crimea and New Zealand campaign group of four awarded to Private James Lukes (alias Lucas), Royal Marines Crimea 1854-56, 3 clasps, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol, unnamed as issued; New Zealand 1845-66, reverse dated 1864 (J. Lucas, Pte., R.M. H.M.S. Falcon) officially impressed naming; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., V.R., wide suspension (Jn. Lucas Pte., 58th Co. R.M.L.I. 21 Yrs.); Turkish Crimea 1855, British issue, unnamed, light contact marks, edge bruise to the second, otherwise good very fine or better (4) £3,000-£4,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Alan Hall Collection, June 2000. Just 12 New Zealand medals issued to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines with this reverse date, all of them from H.M.S. Falcon. James Lukes (alias Lucas) was born in Blandford, Dorset in September 1827 and joined the Royal Marines at Poole in May 1847. Drafted to the 58th Company of the Portsmouth Division, he first served at sea in H.M.S. Prince Regent in the period March 1848 to February 1851. But it was in his next seagoing appointment in the Britannia that he first witnessed active service, when he was landed with the Royal Marine Brigade in the Crimea and saw action at Balaklava and before Sebastopol; his service record refers but makes no mention of his presence at Inkermann. Further seagoing appointments having ensued, Lukes served variously in the Falcon and Esk in the period October 1863 to October 1867 and, more specifically, in North Island, New Zealand in early 1864, when he was landed from the former ship as a member of its 12-man Naval Brigade contingent. Lukes was finally discharged in October 1867, the same year in which he was awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal. Sold with copied record of service.

The rare Victorian campaign group of four awarded to Captain C. K. Purvis, Royal Navy, who commanded an ‘armoured train’ in the action at Kassassin, in which he was severely wounded Canada General Service 1866-70, 1 clasp, Fenian Raid 1866 (Midshipman C. K. Purvis, H.M.S. Fawn) officially impressed naming; Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 1 clasp, Alexandria 11th July (Lieut. C. K. Purvis, R.N. H.M.S. “Penelope”); Ottoman Empire, Order of Osmanieh, 4th Class breast badge, silver-gilt, gold and enamels; Khedive’s Star, dated 1882, mounted as worn, nearly extremely fine (4) £3,000-£4,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Douglas-Morris Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, October 1996; Dix Noonan Webb, June 2006. Only seven ‘Fenian Raid 1866’ clasps to H.M.S. Fawn. Charles Kennedy Purvis was born on 26 September 1849 and entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet in Britannia in March 1863. Appointed a Midshipman in H.M.S. Fawn in December 1864, he remained likewise employed for two years and witnessed active service off Canada in the Fenian operations in 1866. He subsequently gained advancement to Sub. Lieutenant in the Royal Oak in June 1869 and to Lieutenant in the Topaze in September 1873, followed by further seagoing appointments in the Hornet in 1875-80 and the Penelope in 1881-82. And it was from the latter ship that he was landed for special service in the Egypt operations, with command of one of the two ‘armoured trains’ deployed in the Egyptian war zone. In reality these were no more than an armed truck, one being manned by seamen and the other by marines. The bluejackets’ four-wheeled gun-truck, commanded by Lieutenant Purvis, had steel-plated sides that were ‘fairly bullet proof’, with sandbags hung around the outside for good measure. An awning was added over the truck’s open top and it was armed with a 40-pounder gun. A separate box-car, similarly fitted with steel side plates and sandbags, had two compartments for the 230 shells - mostly shrapnel - and charges, entrance to each magazine being only from the top. Since no steam engines could be obtained, Purvis’s naval train was pulled from Ismailia to Nefiche by 16 horses, four abreast, on 26 August 1882. On 1 September, Purvis and his train moved up to Kassassin where, on the 9th, he and his 20-strong party of bluejackets saw action in the defence of the camp against an Egyptian reconnaissance party. Having been working the train on the line a little beyond the camp, the enemy turned their guns on it. Purvis and his 2nd in Command, Sub. Lieutenant James Erskine, dismounted to take some observations. They were standing close together when a shell burst near them, a small portion of which struck Purvis on the foot, tearing a portion of it off, and necessitating immediate amputation at the ankle joint. Subsequently, to rub salt into his wounds, while on his way to Ismailia to be placed aboard the Orontes, he was struck by a tow rope which brought on inflammation and made a second amputation above the ankle imperative. On a somewhat happier note, on Christmas Eve 1882, Purvis was one of two officers in the R.N. Hospital Haslar to receive their Egypt campaign medals from the hand of Queen Victoria. Moreover, he received special promotion to Commander and was mentioned in General Sir Garnet Wolseley’s despatch in the following terms: ‘In command of detachment working 40-pounder on truck; regrets very much the loss of his valuable services.’ Discharged from Haslar in January 1883, Purvis joined the Coast Guard but he returned to sea with command of the Flora in 1887-89. His final appointment was in the harbour based Audacious and he was placed on the Retired List as a Captain in October 1896. He died on 2 June 1916.

‘We have killed several snakes lately, one, a black mamba, a most deadly creature, we found close to the tents; he was eight feet long. I have a horror of snakes; a small one ran over my foot at breakfast a few days ago. I killed him afterwards, when the doctor made an examination, and pronounced him harmless. Walking in long grass about here, one must always wear leggings … ’ Just one aspect of a bluejacket’s life on the campaign trail in South Africa, as recounted in a letter home by William des Vaux Hamilton on 18 December 1878. The rare and outstanding South Africa 1877-79 and Egypt 1882 operations campaign group of five awarded to Vice-Admiral W. des V. Hamilton, Royal Navy, who was twice mentioned in despatches for his protracted service in H.M.S. Active’s Naval Brigade in South Africa; fortuitously for posterity’s sake, he was a gifted correspondent, descriptions of the actions fought at Quintana in February 1878 and Inyezane in January 1879 being but two fascinating accounts to appear in his privately published Letters from Kaffraria and Zululand, 1877-78-79 Jubilee 1897, silver, unnamed; Coronation 1902, silver, unnamed; South Africa 1877-79, 1 clasp, 1877-8-9 (Lieut: W. des V. Hamilton, H.M.S. “Active”); Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 1 clasp, Alexandria 11th July (Lieut: W. des V. Hamilton. R.N. H.M.S. “Alexandra.”); Khedive’s Star, dated 1882, some very light contact marks and pitting from star, otherwise nearly extremely fine (5) £4,000-£5,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Just seven South Africa Medals with ‘1877-8-9’ clasps were awarded to R.N. officers. William des Vaux Hamilton was born on 17 September 1852, and entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet in Britannia in April 1866. Appointed a Midshipman in June 1868 and advanced to Sub Lieutenant in September 1872, he lent valuable service in H.M.S. Vulture in connection with the suppression of the slave trade in East African waters in 1874-75. Thanked by the Admiralty for the ‘zeal he displayed’ in the capture of a slave dhow, he was specially promoted to Lieutenant. Having then joined the Active in July 1877, he was landed as second-in-command of her bluejackets for operations against the Gaikas, his introduction to the local climate taking its toll: ‘Weather very hot; my face is the colour of the dining-room curtains after they were dyed, and my nose is in a dreadful state.’ Oppressive heat aside, Hamilton was present in several skirmishes in Transkei, as well as the more important action at Quintana on 9 February 1878, when he commanded the rocket party: ‘My party of bluejackets, and the rocket apparatus, were sent away to a hill on the right, where I was told to cover the advance of the Fingoes … to get there they had to ascend a steep incline, directly in front of where my party were extended in skirmishing order. When about half way up the incline, the Kaffirs opened fire from behind a ridge, where they lay concealed, and over which the Fingoes must pass to get into the bush behind. Our allies object very much to being shot at, and looked very like retiring, when I got a message from Captain Upcher to advance and support them. Away we went, leaving our rocket apparatus behind … the firing from the ridge was pretty brisk … we could not do much in the way of returning fire, as we only saw a black head bob up for an instant amongst the long grass and other good cover they were in. When about thirty yards from the top, we doubled up at them, and away they bolted into the bushes, and out of sight in an instant … the casualties on our side were one bluejacket severely wounded in the foot – when we were advancing up the hill – and four Fingoes wounded. The bluejacket is doing very well and has been since sent down to hospital at King William’s Town … ’ Hamilton’s letter home from Ibeka, dated 17 February 1878, added: ‘Captain Upcher was good enough to make a favourable report of our little exploit, and you will be glad to hear I am mentioned in despatches … ’ Subsequently, in the Zulu War, he commanded a company of the Naval Brigade at the battle of Inyezane, where he and his bluejackets charged the Zulu positions. His letter home from Eshowe, dated 24 January 1879, takes up the story: ‘The Zulus had chosen and excellent position to attack us. At every side we were surrounded by high hills, covered with brushwood, and in a moment they opened fire on us from all quarters. Their object was, I suppose, to cut off the waggons, and our immense line prevented any reinforcements being brought up … The Zulus were all around us, and finding it impossible to do much where we were, we moved to the rear and extended along the road. A kraal on the left of the road was at first occupied by the Zulus, but before we came up it was taken by two companies of the natives under Captain Hart, our rocket party having sent a rocket right through the place first. Along the road we were exposed to fire from both sides, as the high ground on one each side was occupied by the enemy. Whilst there, I had five men wounded in my company, two very severely. As there appeared no chance of our fire driving the Zulus from their position, we kept advancing with a view to charging the ridge and forcing them to retire. Before doing so we were reinforced by one company of the Buffs, under Colonel Parnel, and Captain Hart’s natives. Captain Hart was most anxious to advance at once; he and Captain Campbell finally rode on, almost alone. I followed, bringing up my company as fast as I could, followed by the Buffs. Two of the Buffs were killed there, and Colonel Parnel’s horse was shot under him; our other company of bluejackets was some distance behind. The Zulus did not wait for us; they bolted to a man, and we advanced and took the heights without any further resistance … ’ Afterwards, as part of Colonel Pearson’s column, Hamilton and his bluejackets joined the garrison at Eshowe. And by way of closing a period of 18 months ashore, they served in General Crealock’s column in the advance on Port Durnford. He was again mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 5 March 1879, refers). In October 1880, Hamilton joined the Alexandra, in which capacity he witnessed further action at the bombardment of Alexandria in July 1882, in addition to serving in the Naval Brigade at the occupation of Port Said. During this period ashore, he was employed destroying railway lines with gun-cotton and was strongly recommended by Admiral Sir B Seymour. Later in 1882, he was appointed to the royal yacht Victoria & Albert and on leaving her in September 1883, he received promotion to Commander. A succession of senior appointments ensued, among them Flag Commander on the Australian Station from 1884 to 1889, and Captain of the North American Station from 1892 to 1895. Hamilton was subsequently appointed Chief of Staff to Admiral Sir John Hopkins K.C.B., Commander in Chief on the Mediterranean Station, in which capacity he received the Jubilee Medal in 1897 and, as an A.D.C. to King Edward VII, the Coronation Medal in 1902. His next appointment was as second-in-command of the Mediterranean Fleet, but his health deteriorated due to an attack of fever, as a result of which he was invalided to England. His advancement to Vice-Admiral was announced just two days before his death in February 1907. As cited above, his extensive correspondence from South Africa was ...

The 2-clasp Naval General Service medal awarded to Thomas E. Davis for his services as Captain of the Maintop in the Virginie at the capture of the Dutch frigate Guelderland in May 1808, and as Able Seaman in the Berwick at Gaieta in July 1815 Naval General Service 1793-1840, 2 clasps, Virginie 19 May 1808, Gaieta 24 July 1815 (T. E. Davis.) a very minor edge bruise, otherwise nearly extremely fine £7,000-£9,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Peter Dale Collection, July 2000. 21 clasps issued for Virginie 19 May 1808, and 89 for Gaieta 24 July 1815. Thomas E. Davis is confirmed on the rolls as Captain of the Maintop in the Virginie, at the capture of the Danish frigate Guelderland in May 1808, and as Able Seaman in the Berwick at Gaieta in July 1815. ‘The thirty-eight-gun frigate Virginie, Captain E. Brace, on May 19th, cruising in latitude 46° North, longitude 14° West, saw and chased a strange sail, which proved to be the Dutch frigate Guelderland, thirty-six guns. At a quarter to ten p.m. the Virginie got near enough to hail the stranger and order her to strike, which she refused to do, and was fired into by the British frigate. An action commenced, during which, in wearing, the Guelderland fell on board her opponent, but the night was so dark, and the swell so great, that the British were unable to board. About eleven p.m., the Guelderland, having all her masts and bowsprit shot away, surrendered, with twenty-five officers and men killed, and her captain and forty-nine men wounded. The Virginie had one man killed and two wounded, and her chief damage was caused by her prize running foul of her during the action.’ (Medals of the British Navy by W. H. Long refers). ‘Gaieta, in the Kingdom of Naples, held out in the cause of Napoleon, for several weeks after the Battle of Waterloo. An Austrian force under Baron de Lauer, invested the place by land, and the British ships Malta, eighty, Captain W. Fahie, and Berwick, seventy-four, Captain E. Brace, blockaded it by sea. After several bombardments, the Governor being informed by Captain Fahie of the surrender of Napoleon to Captain Maitland in the Bellerophon, capitulated on August 8th. The casualties on board the British ships in these operations were - Malta, four men wounded, Berwick, one man wounded.’ (Medals of the British Navy by W. H. Long refers).

‘The advance continued and wherever the enemy showed fight, our men made immediate dashes at him and put him out of action or - in a few cases - sent him back as prisoners. The men’s blood was up and few prisoners were taken. Owing to our having suffered pretty badly in the enemy’s wire the men had little mercy …I feel that I am not exaggerating when I estimate the enemy’s casualties at two thousand. We were firing at them continually all the time we were up there - the fire was well controlled and splendid effects were seen - The artillery was magnificent. The enemy was thoroughly butchered and we enjoyed every moment of it all … ’ So stated Commander W. Sterndale-Bennett, Drake Battalion, Royal Naval Division, in his report on the attack on Gavrelle on 24-25 April 1917. The rare and outstanding Great War D.S.O. and Bar group of four awarded to Commander W. Sterndale-Bennett, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, one of the Royal Naval Division’s youngest Battalion C.O.s - and a recipient of Churchillian praise - who was mortally wounded at Passchendaele in November 1917, aged just 24 Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamels, with 1st laurel type Second Award Bar and integral top ribbon bar; 1914 -15 Star (Ty. Sub. Lieut, W. S. Bennett, R.N.V.R.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Commr. W. Sterndale-Bennett. R.N.V.R.) some chipping to green enamel wreath of D.S.O., otherwise extremely fine (4) £5,000-£7,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Spink, May 2003. One of just four “Double D.S.O.s” awarded to the Royal Naval Division. D.S.O. London Gazette 26 January 1917: ‘For conspicuous gallantry in action. He assumed command of and handled his Battalion with marked courage and ability. He personally collected a party and bombed the enemy out of part of their second line, where they might have held up the attack.’ Bar to D.S.O. London Gazette 18 July 1917: ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. On discovering the wire uncut except in a few places he went forward himself and led his Battalion through the partially cut gaps. He finally gained his objective and held on against very strong resistance. The success of the operation was almost entirely due to his personal example.’ Walter Sterndale-Bennett was born in Derby on 15 July 1893, the son of James Robert Sterndale Bennett, Headmaster of Derby School, and a grandson of Sir William Sterndale Bennett (1816-75), one of the most celebrated British composers of the nineteenth century, Professor of Music at Cambridge and latterly Principal of the Royal Academy of Music. It is thought that young Walter attended St Paul’s School, Hammersmith, and possibly studied at the Slade School of Fine Art. More certain is the fact he was subsequently apprenticed to the Merchant Navy and qualified for his 2nd Mate’s certificate in December 1913. Upon the outbreak of hostilities in the following year, he enlisted in the ranks of the 28th Battalion, London Regiment (Artists’ Rifles) in which he undertook basic training. But in February 1915 he obtained a commission as a Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and was drafted to Drake Battalion in the Royal Naval Division. And it was in this capacity that he first saw action, in Gallipoli from mid-August 1915, where he was also appointed Adjutant of the battalion and ‘one of the last to slip away’ from the peninsula on its evacuation. He was duly mentioned in despatches by Sir Charles Munro (London Gazette 13 July 1916, refers) and advanced to Temporary Lieutenant. Embarked for France from Mudros in May 1916, Sterndale-Bennett and Drake Battalion were soon heavily engaged on the Somme, his D.S.O. stemming from the above cited deeds in the assault on Beaucourt on 13-14 November 1916, in which the battalion advanced in ‘the fog and mist of the Ancre Valley’ and suffered a loss of 14 officers and nearly 200 men killed or wounded. Owing to those casualties, he assumed command of the battalion as an Acting Lieutenant-Commander. Having then returned to the U.K. to attend a senior officer’s course, he rejoined Drake in France as an Acting Commander in April 1917, the same month in which he won a Bar to his D.S.O. for the above cited deeds in the famous action at Gavrelle, east of Arras. Jerrold’s history of the Royal Naval Division states: ‘The enemy were in strength and though they suffered under our barrage, their first wave being almost wiped out, they reached, and at one point on the Howe front actually penetrated, our posts. The prompt and energetic action of Commander Bennett and his officers on the Drake front, and of Lieutenant Mackinlay and Sub-Lieutenant Lawrie of the Howe Battalion prevented, however, any loss of ground and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy. The success, from first to last, was largely due to the initiative of the newly-appointed leaders of the Hood and Drake Battalions. This is not to say that the plans for the attack were bad. It was once more, however, made clear that the most careful preparations, the most precise instructions go only a small way, and sometimes no way at all, towards the final goal. But for the timely variations made in the original plans, and for the exceptional resolution of many individuals, the success would certainly not have been achieved. The chief honours went without a doubt to Commander Asquith and Commander Bennett.’ In October 1917, Drake moved to Passchendaele, where, on the 5th, he was mortally wounded by enemy shellfire. As recalled by one of his men, Frank Andrews, ‘Commander Bennett was badly wounded at about 4.30 p.m. on November 4th 1917. I was attached to H.Q. at the time and we were caught right in the middle of a very fierce bombardment which the enemy had a nasty habit of putting over every evening at the same time … I was about fifty yards away when that particular shell dropped but was fortunately not hit myself although several of my mates were killed.’ Another witness was Lieutenant-Commander Charles Hayfair of Hawke Battalion, who stated: ‘A shell had struck him in the legs, severing one between the knee and ankle and I believe shattering the other foot. Although he received prompt treatment he sank very rapidly. I was greatly surprised and shocked as, when he took over, the line was quiet except for casual shelling.’ Sterndale-Bennett died on 7 November 1917 at 61st Casualty Clearing Station, Dozinghem, Westvleteren and was buried at Dozinghem Military Cemetery with full military honours. Present were the Divisional General, members of Divisional and Brigade staffs, battalion commanders of 189th Brigade and 15 officers and 120 men representing Drake Battalion. His replacement as Battalion Commander wrote to his parents: ‘I do not think I am saying more than the accurate facts when I say that he was universally recognised as the best Commanding Officer in the Division. We shall miss him more than I can say, but his example and training will – I am certain – live in the Battalion for a long time. He was always cheerful and optimistic and absolutely fearless. His men would have gone anywhere and done anything he asked them with the most complete confidence.’ Posthumously mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 7 December 1917, refers), Sterndale-Bennett’s gallant deeds – from the Somme to Passchendaele via Gavrelle – found further recognition in the words of...

The Victorian gold C.B. group of four awarded to Deputy Surgeon-General G. E. Farrell, Indian Medical Service, Surgeon of Shannon’s Naval Brigade and later of the 5th Gurkhas during the Second Afghan War The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (Military) C.B., breast badge, 18 carat gold and enamels, hallmarked London 1880, lacking swivel-ring straight suspension and now fitted with fluted silver-gilt ring and gold ribbon buckle; Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Relief of Lucknow (Asst. Surgn. G. Farrell.); India General Service 1854-94, 4 clasps, North West Frontier, Jowaki 1877-8, Burma 1885-7, Burma 1887-89 (Surgn. G. Farrell, 2nd Punjab Infy.); Afghanistan 1878-80, 3 clasps, Peiwar Kotal, Charasia, Kabul (Surg-Maj. G. Farrell, 5th Goorkha) attractively toned, generally good very fine (4) £5,000-£7,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Brian Ritchie Collection, March 2005. C.B. London Gazette 29 May 1886. George Elias Farrell was born in Dublin on 22 October 1831 and trained at Steven’s Hospital, Dublin. He was appointed Assistant Surgeon in the Honourable East India Company’s Service on 4 August 1854, and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (Ireland) in 1856. He embarked for India aboard the S.S. Nubia and landed at Calcutta on 17 December 1856. After duty at the General Hospital, Calcutta, he was ordered to report to the Surgeon of the 20th N.I. at Benares in February 1857, but the following month was attached to the 2nd Company, 3rd Battalion, Bengal Artillery, and proceeded with a detachment of that unit to Dinapore on 12 April. He next returned to Benares and was attached to the Loodianah Sikhs and was placed in medical charge of all European troops at the station. On 19 July, with Bengal in revolt, he was ordered to Calcutta and shortly after his arrival was assigned to accompany the second party of H.M.S. Shannon’s Naval Brigade which, 120-strong, left Calcutta for Allahabad in the river steamer Benares on 18 September, under Lieutenant Vaughan. Vaughan’s party caught up with the rest of the Naval Brigade on 20 October and marched into Allahabad fort with the ship’s band playing at the head of the column. During the Second Relief of Lucknow he found a steady demand for his professional skills. Of the total of 553 officers and men landed from Shannon, four officers and 100 men were killed or died from wounds or disease. One officer and 17 men were invalided, and a further seven officers and 51 men wounded in action. Following the relief of Lucknow, Farrell was sent with the sick, wounded, and non-combatant members of the Residency garrison to Allahabad, where he was appointed to do duty at the General Hospital until February 1858, when he was ordered to Mean Meer in the Lahore Circle for general duty. He was next attached to the 2nd Punjab Infantry on the Frontier and in April 1860 took part in the expedition against the Mahsud Waziris under Brigadier Neville Chamberlain. Service with Sam Browne’s Cavalry, interrupted by a spell with the 2nd Punjab Infantry in 1865, followed until 1868, when on 4 August, he was promoted Surgeon. Farrell became Surgeon Major in 1873, and in 1877-78 took part in the punitive expedition against the Jowaki Afridis. During the Second Afghan War he served with the 5th Gurkhas in the Kurram Valley Field Force, under Major-General F. S. Roberts, and was mentioned in despatches for services at Peiwar Kotal and thanked in orders. He continued with the force to Ali Khel and the Shutargardan Pass and returned with the force to Kurram, via the southern route and the Mangiar defile where the rearguard and baggage were suddenly attacked by the Mangal Pathans. The situation was saved by the ‘steadiness and gallantry of the 5th Gurkhas’ who for five hours repulsed every attack. Two officers were severely injured in the encounter, Captain Goad, a transport officer, and Captain Powell of the 5th Gurkhas, both of whom subsequently died of their wounds. During the second campaign of the war, Farrell served again under Roberts, now commanding the Kabul Field Force. On 6 October 1879 Farrell was present with the forward elements of the Field Force which encountered the army of Kabul at Charasia, and put it to rout. Farrell entered Kabul with Roberts’ force a few days later and subsequently served in operations around Kabul and in the defence of the Sherpur cantonment, earning another mention in despatches. Promoted Brigade-Surgeon in December 1883, he was advanced to Deputy Surgeon-General and created a Companion of the Bath in 1886. He last saw active service in 1886-87 during the Burma Campaign. Farrell retired from the Indian Medical Department in September 1893, and died in Dublin on 28 April 1899. Sold with copied research.

The important Victorian K.C.B. group of five awarded to Admiral Sir Robert Robinson, Royal Navy, who was mentioned in despatches and specially promoted to Captain for his services in the Syria operations of 1840, besides being awarded the Turkish Gold Medal, the Order of Nishan el Ifikhar and a presentation sabre from the Sultan of Turkey The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, K.C.B. (Civil) neck badge, 18 carat gold, hallmarked London 1855, and breast star, in silver, with gold and enamel appliqué centre, the reverse engraved ‘R. & S. Garrard & Co., Goldsmiths Jewellers &c. to the Queen, His Royal Highness Prince Albert and all the Royal Family, Panton Street, London’; Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Syria (Robert S. Robinson, Commr.); Baltic 1854-55, unnamed as issued; St Jean D’Acre 1840, gold, some light contact marks, otherwise good very fine or better (5) £6,000-£8,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Alan Hall Collection, June 2000. K.C.B. (Civil) London Gazette 7 December 1868. Robert Spencer Robinson was born on 6 January 1809, the third son of Sir John Robinson, Bt., Archdeacon of Armagh, by Mary Anne, second daughter of James Spencer of Rathangan, Kildare, and grandson of William Friend (1715-1866), Dean of Canterbury. He entered the Royal Navy in December 1821 and first saw action as a Midshipman in the boats of H.M.S. Sybille against pirates in the Mediterranean in 1826. Having then passed his examination, he served on the South America station in the Dublin, followed by further appointments in the Mediterranean in the Asia and Tyne. Advanced to Commander in June 1838, he took command of the Hydra in March 1840, in which capacity he distinguished himself in the Syria operations of 1840, gaining advancement to post-rank and the Turkish Order of Nishan el Ifikhar; he was also the recipient of a presentation sabre from the Sultan of Turkey (see Naval Medals 1793-1856, by Captain K. J. Douglas-Morris, for further details of these awards). Over the next decade he remained on half-pay but in 1850 he took command of the Arrogant in the Channel Fleet and, in June 1854, he commissioned the Colossus, which formed part of the Fleet in the Baltic and Kronstadt in 1855. Having then served as Captain of the Steam Reserves in Plymouth and Portsmouth, he was advanced to Rear-Admiral in June 1860 and joined a commission to enquire into the management of Royal dockyards. And it was direct from this role, in February 1861, that he was appointed Controller of the Navy, an office which he occupied for the next 10 years. Much has been written about Robinson’s time in office, for it encompassed a vital chapter in the Navy’s transition from wood-built to iron-built ships, in addition to advances in science and design that heralded a swathe of new ordnance, armour and engines, and crucial improvements to dockyards and ship-building. Much of this vital modernisation faced both internal and external opposition, but Robinson remained firm in his convictions and pulled no punches, the defence analyst Edward Luttwak crediting him with a convincing display of ‘amoral navalism’, namely ‘professionals agitating for the enlargement of the force at their disposal without regard for either the constraints imposed by politics and foreign policy - or any other factors for that matter - or the actual menace posed by rival forces.’ Thanks to Robinson’s unorthodox approach, and his keen eye on developments taking place in France and elsewhere, the Royal Navy maintained its domination of the High Seas, and he maintained his assertive approach as a Lord of the Admiralty under Hugh Childers in 1868-71. A well-known Naval contributor to The Times, Robinson also published Results of Admiralty Organisation as Established by Sir James Graham and Mr. Childers (1871). Innovation rarely comes without mishaps, however, a case in point being the loss of the recently launched H.M.S. Captain in September 1870, in a Force 9 to 11 gale off Cape Finisterre. She capsized with a loss of 472 lives, among them the son of H. C. E. Childers, the First Lord of the Admiralty. Childers partly, and unfairly, attributed the Captain’s loss to Robinson, thereby bringing an end to the latter’s term in office at the Admiralty. In addition to his appointment as K.C.B., Robinson was advanced to Vice-Admiral in April 1866 and to Admiral in June 1871. Placed on the Retired List in the following year, he died at his residence in Eaton Place, London on 27 July 1889, and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.

The Great War D.S.C. and Bar, A.F.C. group of six awarded to Group Captain V. Gaskell-Blackburn, Royal Air Force, late Royal Naval Air Service, who, having participated in the first ever carrier-borne air strike in 1914, spotted for the Severn and Mersey against the Konigsberg in East Africa and was twice decorated for his gallant deeds in the Kut-el-Amara and Ctesiphon operations of 1915-16 Distinguished Service Cross, G.V.R., with Second Award Bar, hallmarked London 1915; Air Force Cross, G.V.R.; 1914-15 Star (Flt. Lieut. V. G. Blackburn, D.S.C. R.N.A.S.); British War and Victory Medals (Lt. Col. V. Gaskell-Blackburn, R.A.F.); Coronation 1937, mounted as worn, generally good very fine (6) £12,000-£16,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, December 2007. Vivian Gaskell-Blackburn was born in Leeds in 1892 and, shortly after leaving Uppingham, learnt to fly a Bristol biplane at Brooklands, taking his Pilot’s Certificate in September 1913 (No. 617). Commissioned in the Royal Naval Air Service on the outbreak of hostilities, he was quickly in action, piloting an Admiralty Type 74 “Folder” Seaplane in the famous Cuxhaven Raid on Christmas Day 1914, the world’s first carrier air strike. The operation, in essence an air reconnaissance of the Heligoland Bight, including Cuxhaven, was made by nine seaplanes, the pilots and their machines being conveyed to a point about 12 miles to the north of Heligoland before being lowered onto the water from the seaplane carriers Empress, Engadine and Riviera - the Arethusa and Undaunted, and eight destroyers, acted as escort. Seven of the seaplanes rose without any difficulty into the air, but the remaining two machines refused to become airborne with their heavy weight of bombs and had to be swung back on board their parent carriers. The former, with their pilots huddling deeper into their draughty cockpits in the clear, icy air, set course for Cuxhaven. Gaskell-Blackburn’s subsequent experiences, and those of his Observer, C.P.O. Mechanic J. W. Bell, are described in R. D. Layman’s definitive history, The Cuxhaven Raid: ‘After coming under fire from trawlers and destroyers, Gaskell-Blackburn ran into fog that ‘rendered navigation extremely difficult’, so much so that he was unable to tell where he crossed the coastline ... To the north-west he noted a number of destroyers steaming seaward and what appeared to be a British seaplane heading the same direction. Also to the north, Bell observed, were three battlecruisers and about 15 other vessels, all making heavy smoke ... The first three cruisers ‘opened an extremely hot anti-aircraft fire,’ as did the battlecruisers as the Short flew between the two groups of ships. The German fire was accurate for height, but the shells burst behind the planes. He reported, ‘I came then to the outskirts of Wilhelmshaven and was again subjected to an extremely hot anti-aircraft fire ... the most accurate and fiercest fire during the trip.’ A small-calibre shell or a large metal fragment from a heavier missile tore through a main float and damaged a starboard under-carriage strut, damage Bell could see by peering from his cockpit. Gaskell-Blackburn aimed two bombs at what he believed was the land battery responsible; it did not fire again, and my observer reported that he thought we did damage it’ ... With fuel running short, Gaskell-Blackburn decided not to take the return route via Wangeroog and the other Frisian islands, but headed west-north-west over the mainland. The fog closed in again during this inland flight, forcing him to keep to 700 feet. Every time the Short emerged into a momentarily clear patch of sky, he reported, it was fired at by anti-aircraft guns or rifles ... Gaskell-Blackburn reached the coast near Baltrum Island, Norderney’s neighbour to the east, emerging into clear sky, quickly recognising Norderney and heading north to seek the carriers ... ’ Layman next describes Gaskell-Blackburn’s ditching and rescue by the submarine E. 11, the latter already having picked up another pilot: ‘About ten minutes later E. 11’s lookouts spotted an airship to starboard - in fact the Zeppelin L5 commanded by Kapitanleutnant Klaus Hirsch - a complication compounded by the additional arrival of two more R.N.A.S. seaplanes, both dangerously short of fuel (No. 814 crewed by Gaskell-Blackburn and Bell, and No. 815 by Oliver and Bell). Both swept down and landed alongside the submarine, just as Nasmith spotted another looming danger in the form of a periscope (it was, in fact, the British submarine D. 6, hastening to the scene to offer assistance) ... Nasmith, tackling the problem of rescuing four airmen in the face of what appeared to be imminent underwater and aerial attack, acted with the cool-headed precision that would win him fame later in the war. Casting off the tow-line to [Miley’s] No. 120, he manoeuvred E. 11 so close to No. 815 that Oliver and Bell were able to step aboard her, then hailed Gaskell-Blackburn and Bell to swim to the submarine. Doffing their flying clothes and the impedimenta that Malone had insisted upon, they dived from their tilting plane and were hauled, dripping, aboard E. 11. Although the airship was now closing fast, Nasmith was obedient to the orders to destroy abandoned aircraft if possible. Since E. 11, like most British submarines in 1914, as yet lacked a deck gun, he ordered a machine-gun up from below and began to pepper the seaplanes’ floats with it. Oliver joined in with his pistol. Before this fire could have any effect, the aerial menace got too close for comfort, and Nasmith ordered a crash dive. With L5 nearly overhead, he waved his cap defiantly as he made for the conning tower hatch. It has often been claimed that the gesture confused the airshipmen into thinking E. 11 was a U-boat capturing enemy planes and caused them to delay dropping bombs. Gaskell-Blackburn thought so at the time. But there is nothing in German accounts to suggest the gesture was even seen, and Hirsch’s report makes it clear he was quite aware that the submarine was an enemy craft. He saw the rescue of the airmen clearly just before he sent two bombs crashing down. Their explosions shook both E. 11 and D. 6, although the former had time to dive to 40 feet before they went off and the latter was 60 feet down. The men on each submarine thought their boat was the target, but Hirsch’s account indicates he was aiming simply in the general vicinity of the seaplanes and the submerged E. 11, hoping any or all might be damaged. Observing no effect from the bombs, he headed seaward toward the Harwich Force. Nasmith meanwhile took E. 11 down to rest on the seabed, where at 20 fathoms the submariners shared their Christmas turkey and plum pudding with their five unusual guests.’ Gaskell-Blackburn was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 19 February 1915 refers), and his Observer, C.P.O. Mechanic J. W. Bell, was awarded the D.S.M. In the operations against the Königsberg in East Africa in July 1915, while piloting a Henri Farman biplane out of Mafia Island, Gaskell-Blackburn was commended for his work in spotting the fall of shot from H.M’s monitors Severn and Mersey. And in the following month, on the 15th, he carried out a reconnaissance with Flight Commander Cull, D.S.O., this time in a newly delivered Cauldron G. III aircraft, in order to assess the damage caused the enemy cruiser; an excellent photograph of Gaskell-Blackburn at the helm of his Henri Farman, taken on Mafia Island in July 1915, is in the collection of the Fleet Air Ar...

The rare Arctic convoy PQ-17 B.E.M and Soviet Red Star group of five awarded to Chief Steward R. Quick, Merchant Navy, who survived the loss of the Empire Byron in PQ-17 in July 1942, and an inquisitive U-boat officer who suspected he was the ship’s Master British Empire Medal, (Civil), G.VI.R., 1st issue (Robert Quick); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939 -45; U.S.S.R., Order of the Red Star, the reverse officially numbered, ‘70811’, mounted for display, extremely fine (5) £1,200-£1,600 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Spink, November 2000. Approximately 20 Soviet Red Stars were awarded to Allied personnel for the 1939-45 War, six of them to members of the Merchant Navy. B.E.M. London Gazette 1 January 1943. The original recommendation states: ‘Chief Officer Prance and Steward Robert Quick were shipmates in a vessel which made three voyages to Russia in the Empire Byron. On her last voyage she was subjected to constant air and sea attack. Despite his previous experiences on the North Russian route, Steward Quick re-engaged in this vessel for a further voyage and faced unflinchingly all dangers and hazards.’ Soviet Red Star London Gazette 17 November 1942: ‘In recognition of gallantry in the convoying of ships to northern ports of the Soviet Union.’ Robert Quick was born in St. Ives, Cornwall on 4 May 1881, and was thus aged 61 when he signed on for his voyage in the S.S. Empire Byron on the Arctic run. Unfortunately for him, it was in the ill-fated Arctic convoy PQ-17. Carrying 3,500 tons of military stores, the Empire Byron sailed with the convoy from Reykjavik on 27 June 1942 and, following receipt of the notorious signal for the convoy to ‘scatter’ on 4 July, altered course by 20 degrees to veer away from the main body. At 0827 hours on the 5th, Kapitänleutnant Bielfeld of the U-703 put a torpedo into the Empire Byron’s main engine room, causing a between decks explosion which trapped a dozen Gunners below. The crew abandoned the sinking ship and under the orders of Captain Wharton concentrated in two boats, one of which had an engine. The officers discarded uniform insignia indicating their rank as the Germans would be sure to seek out the ship’s Master and no doubt take him prisoner aboard the U-Boat. Among those compelled to discard such insignia was John Rimington, a Captain in the R.E.M.E., who was to have advised the Russians on their new Churchill tanks. He remained, however, resplendent in a pure white duffel coat. Meanwhile, Empire Byron’s boiler exploded, tearing a gaping hole in the hull. Water then cascaded in and the ship sank with the loss of 18 gunners and ratings. Bielfeld now gave orders for U-703 to surface and closed on the two lifeboats. According to David Irving’s The Destruction of Convoy P.Q. 17, ‘A tall blond officer,’ accompanied by a German seaman in ‘polished leggings toting a machine-gun,’ then descended on to the U-boat’s deck, and began berating the British seamen who were struggling with unfamiliar oars. As they neared the submarine, the German Officer asked, “Why are you Fighting? You aren’t Communists are you? So why do you risk your lives to take tanks to the Bolsheviks? Who is your Captain?” Nobody stirred or answered, and, as related in the same book, the blond ‘German’s eyes fell on the rather distinguished-looking Chief Steward [Quick], but he hastily said he was not the Captain; finally, the officer saw Captain Rimington, and told him to step on to the submarine’s deck; the army captain’s protests went unheeded, and he was taken down below. At the same time, the lifeboats were handed tins of biscuits and apple-juice, and a piece of sausage. “How far is the nearest land?” asked Captain Wharton. “About 250 miles,” answered the blond officer. A klaxon sounded within the submarine, and she submerged, taking the captured Briton with them.’ Thus, cast adrift, 61-year-old Quick subsequently endured the following ordeal, as detailed by Captain Wharton in his official report: ‘We rowed to the S.E. throughout the afternoon of the 6th until the men became exhausted and then at about 1900 hours we took the other lifeboat in tow and started the motor, steered S.E. and making about four knots. A little before 1900 we saw a submarine on the surface astern signalling to a single aircraft which was circling overhead, but neither of them took any notice of us. Our compass was of little use to us, but we had the sun throughout the 24 hours and were able to steer by it and make a good course. We sighted one German plane on the 7th and also a steamer which was on fire and abandoned, but sighted nothing further until 10th when we sighted the corvette Dianella steaming towards us. Her crow’s nest look-out had sighted our red sails, and we were picked up about 1320 on 10th in position 73.48 N. 41.21 E., having been in the boats for five and a half days, and covering 250 miles towards the land. We remained on board the Daniella and landed at Archangel on 16 July.’ Sold with three original Soviet Red Star membership booklets, one of them with a portrait photograph, the other two with annual coupons dated 1942-46 [for annuity?], together with damaged card box of issue for B.E.M.

The unique Victorian gold C.B. and Royal Visit to India C.S.I. group of nine awarded to Vice-Admiral Hon. H. Carr Glyn, Royal Navy, who served with distinction in command of a gunboat flotilla on the Danube in the summer of 1854, gaining special promotion to Commander and one of just two Turkish General Service Medals in gold awarded to Naval officers; then, on being appointed A.D.C. to Admiral Lord Lyons in the Crimea, he was attached to Lord Raglan’s staff at the battle of the Alma, thereby becoming one of only two Naval officers to gain entitlement to the relevant clasp The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s breast badge, 18 carat gold and enamels, hallmarked London 1875, complete with gold ribbon buckle; The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, C.S.I., Companion’s breast badge, gold and enamels, with central onyx cameo of a youthful Queen Victoria, the motto of the order set in rose diamonds, suspended from a five-pointed silver star and gold bar suspension, complete with gold top suspension; Crimea 1854-56, 2 clasps, Alma, Sebastopol (H. C. Glyn. Lieut. H.M.S. Britannia) contemporary engraved naming, clasps attached in reverse order; Ottoman Empire, Medal of Iftihar 1855, gold; Turkish Crimea 1855, Sardinian issue, unnamed; Order of the Medjidie, 3rd Class neck badge, silver, gold and enamel; Portugal, Kingdom, Order of Aviz, breast star, silver-gilt, gold and enamels; International, Sovereign Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes & Malta, Knight of Honour and Devotion neck badge with trophy of arms suspension, silver-gilt and enamels; together with Prince of Wales’ Visit to India 1875-76, large silver medal, the edge officially numbered ‘246’, and a small silver medallet for the same, minor enamel chips to the Turkish and Portuguese orders, otherwise generally very fine or better (10) £10,000-£14,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Alan Hall Collection, June 2000. C.B. London Gazette 29 May 1875. C.S.I. London Gazette 8 March 1876. Henry Carr Glyn was born on 17 April 1829, the fourth son of George Carr, 1st Lord Wolverton, and entered the Royal Navy as a First Class Volunteer aboard America in March 1844. He subsequently saw extensive service on the Pacific, East Indies and China Stations, and in 1850, in the latter theatre, under Commander Edmund Lyons, he distinguished himself in the suppression of piracy. On one occasion, in fact, he came prominently under the notice of the authorities for his gallant conduct in boarding a pirate junk. During the engagement Captain Lyon’s Brig happened to sheer off from the pirate junk which had just been boarded, and young Carr Glyn, with his Commander, and about a dozen others, was left on board to fight the crew and take the ship, in which enterprise they were, after some heavy fighting, successful. On the outbreak of the Crimea War, Carr Glyn was appointed First Lieutenant of Britannia, the flagship of the Naval Commander in Chief, Vice-Admiral J. W. D. Dundas, and was subsequently chosen to command the small naval gunboat flotilla on the Danube. His orders were to assist the Turkish Army, together with a party of 30 English Sappers and 15 French Pioneers, in securing a bridgehead over the River Danube at Giugevo. Travelling by sea to Varna, the naval party then journeyed on horseback to Rhoustchouk, a distance of some 130 miles. They arrived on 10 July 1854 to find a Russian Army 70,000 strong, under Prince Gortschakaff, threatening a Turkish force of a few thousand men which had crossed the Danube and was now camped on the northern bank at Giurgevo. Having thus become separated from the main Turkish Army it was soon clear that the small force would be unable to withstand the impending Russian offensive. Immediately on arrival Carr Glyn, assisted by Midshipman His Serene Highness Prince Leiningen, took command of the few Turkish gun boats on the river and thrust them down a narrow loop stream which split away from the main river above Giurgevo. By this action he placed the boats between the two armies and, though under heavy fire from the north bank, maintained his position and relieved the pressure on the small isolated Turkish advance party. Prince Gortschakaff, uncertain as to the strength of the newly arrived British force, decided against an immediate attack. While he hesitated, the naval party assisted the sappers in constructing a pontoon bridge, 787 yards long, using 55 commandeered boats. The bridge was completed by 10 August and the main Turkish Army, under Omar Pasha, was now in a position to cross the Danube River and to counter the Russian threat. In conclusion to this spirited affair it might be claimed that Carr Glyn’s actions had been entirely responsible for thwarting the Czar’s intention of invading Bulgaria. Certainly he was generously rewarded, being mentioned in despatches and promoted to Commander. He was also awarded the 3rd Class Order of Medjidie and was given a Gold Turkish General Service Medal, the latter being one of only two awarded to British Naval officers, Midshipman His Serene Highness Prince Leningen receiving the other. Admiral Lord Lyons, being much satisfied with Carr Glyn’s conduct, appointed him to his staff as A.D.C., and in this capacity he was seconded to attend on Lord Raglan and was present at the battle of Alma on 24 September 1854. In consequence he received the Crimea Medal with ‘Alma’ clasp, one of only two such distinctions issued to Naval officers; see Clowes, Volume 6, page 432. Following the Crimea War, Glyn saw varied service off the West Coast of Africa and in the Mediterranean, and he was advanced to Captain in August 1861 after being commended by Commodore Seymour for his valuable assistance in conveying troops to New Zealand in the Miranda. In 1870 he assumed command of the ironclad Warrior – today residing in all her glory at Portsmouth – and in March 1874, after being appointed an A.D.C. to Queen Victoria, he was ordered to ‘meet and attend the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia while in England.’ (his service record, refers). He was appointed a C.B. On appointment to the command of Seraphis in 1875, he conveyed the Prince of Wales to India for the Royal Visit. In recognition of these services, he was created a C.S.I. in 1876, and also received the large oval Silver Commemorative Medal issued to senior dignitaries. Carr Glyn became Rear-Admiral in September 1877 and Vice-Admiral in June 1882. He died suddenly from an attack of peritonitis in February 1884. Sold with copied record of service and other research.

The very rare ‘1860’ New Zealand medal awarded to Captain C. E. H. Vernon, Royal Navy, who had earlier participated in the Franklin Search Expedition from 1848 to 1854 as a Lieutenant in the Plover New Zealand 1845-66, reverse dated 1860 (Commander C. E. H. Vernon, H.M.S. Cordelia) officially impressed naming, fitted with silver ribbon brooch, nearly extremely fine £3,000-£4,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, March 2008. One of only six known New Zealand War medals dated 1860 awarded to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, and a unique date to H.M.S. Cordelia; three are also known to H.M.S. Iris and two to H.M.S. Niger. Vernon's Medal was issued on 12 November 1870. 29 medals (4 to R.N. officers, 16 to R.N. ratings, and 9 to R.M. N.C.Os. and men) were awarded to H.M.S. Cordelia for the Second New Zealand War. Of these 29, 20 are known as extant including this one with reverse dated 1860, three with undated reverses, and the remainder with reverse dates 1860-1861. Charles Egerton Harcourt Vernon was born in 1827, and his seniority as Lieutenant in the Royal Navy dated from 2 February 1849. He was posted to Daedalus on 27 July 1849, and to Plover in September 1851. As a Lieutenant he took part in the Franklin Search Expedition in the Plover, under Captain Moore, wintering at Port Clarence during 1851-52, and during another commission of the Plover, under Commander Maguire, from 1852-54, wintering at Point Barrow during 1852-53 and 1853-54. A vessel from the Pacific squadron communicated with the Plover each year, after the departure of the Herald. In 1851, H.M.S. Daedalus (Captain Wellesley) was sent to Port Clarence on this duty, and it would seem that Vernon transferred from Daedalus to Plover at that time. The Amphitrite took up Captain Maguire in 1852. On 30 June 1852, Captain Moore of the Plover recommended Vernon for his active and zealous conduct during the Arctic expedition; and on 29 October 1854, Commander Maguire spoke in the highest terms of Vernon's valuable services in the Arctic Seas. On 24 February 1859, Captain Loring reported his useful proceedings in the Navigator Islands. Promoted to be a Commander in April 1855, he was posted to Surprise in March 1856, and to Cordelia in April 1857. In 1859 H.M.S. Cordelia paid a punitive visit to the Samoan island of Savii, to demand the surrender of a young chief who had murdered an English trader by the name of William Fox two years earlier. After destroying houses and canoes the chief was delivered up and then promptly strung to the yardarm, his body being returned for burial. The effect of the punishment was as marked as it was lasting. Cordelia saw service in New Zealand during 1860 and 1861, but Vernon was made Acting Captain of Iris in December 1860, and promoted to Captain in August 1861. Captain Vernon died on 14 May 1872. Sold with copied record of service

The rare Great War Gallipoli operations C.G.M. group of seven awarded to Colour-Sergeant C. J. ‘Charlie’ Braddock, Royal Marine Light Infantry, a well-known boxer who was decorated for facing-off a far superior force of Turks at Achi Baba in May 1915 Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, G.V.R. (Ch.B.2013. Pte. C. J. Braddock, R.M.L.I. Chat. Bn. R.N. Divn.); 1914 Star, with copy clasp (Ch.14298 Sergt. C. J. Braddock R.M. Brigade); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Ch.14298 Pte. C. J. Braddock. R.M.L.I.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (Ch.14298 C. J. Braddock. Sergt. R.M.L.I.) heavily polished and worn, otherwise fine or better (7) £12,000-£16,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, June 1998. C.G.M. London Gazette 2 July 1915: ‘Behaved with distinguished gallantry on May 1st during operations south of Achi Baba. When the enemy in greatly superior numbers attacked an outpost of 30 men he volunteered in company with Lieutenant Cheetham and one other man to counter-attack the enemy on a flank in the open under heavy fire, thus assisting to save the outpost line.’ Charles James Braddock was born in London on 11 March 1887, and entered the Royal Marine Light Infantry at the recruiting depot in Deal in March 1904. Posted to the Chatham Division, he started to make a name for himself as a talented boxer in the period leading up to the Great War, winning numerous bouts by knockout. And that fledgling career in the ring – which eventually extended until 1923 - led to him purchasing his discharge in May 1914, when he was enrolled in the Royal Fleet Reserve. Recalled on the outbreak of hostilities, he joined the R.M. Brigade in the Royal Naval Division and served in the Dunkirk and Antwerp operations in September-October 1914. But it was for his subsequent deeds in Gallipoli that he was awarded the C.G.M., following the award of a certificate by the G.O.C. of the Royal Naval Division ‘for courageous and gallant conduct in the Field’ on 1 May 1915. On that occasion, when the Royal Marines bore the brunt of Kemal’s third attack on 29 April to 1 May 1915, the Chatham and Portsmouth Battalions suffered 337 casualties. The History of the Royal Marines in the War of 1914-1919 takes up the story: ‘On 1 May, the Turks attacked again at 4 a.m., but this was broken by fire. Another attack was made at 4 p.m., along the front of Quinn’s Post and Lone Pine trenches. The Turkish attack came across Johnston’s Jolly and 1000 Turks attacked Chatham R.M.L.I., who opened rifle and machine-gun fire, which broke the Turkish attack when about 200 yards off, and by 6 p.m., the enemy had retired. Lieutenant J. Cheetham was awarded the D.S.C. for his courage and initiative in the defence of this position. Private (acting Sergeant) C. J. Braddock (Chatham), the well-known heavy-weight boxer, was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, for volunteering, in company with Lieutenant Cheetham and one other man to counter-attack the enemy on a flank in the open under heavy fire, thus assisting to clear the line.’ Braddock was advanced to Corporal in October 1915 and saw further action in France, being specially promoted to Sergeant ‘for good services in the Field’ in February 1917. He returned to the U.K. six months later and remained employed on depot duties for the remainder of the war, in which period he no doubt continued to hone his boxing skills. Having then served as a Barrack Police Sergeant and been awarded the L.S. & G.C. Medal in July 1920, he was discharged in June 1922. Recalled on the renewal of hostilities, he was appointed a Colour-Sergeant in April 1940 and served as an orderly at Deal. Sold with the recipient’s original parchment Certificate of Service, together with a Certificate for Wounds and Hurts for fractures received in a gymnasium accident in December 1917.

‘The performance of duty by this rating has had a tremendous effect on the operations carried out by “Torbay” and there have been occasions when his efficiency has saved the submarine from probable disaster.’ High praise indeed. Commander A. C. C. ‘Crap’ Miers, V.C., D.S.O., R.N., in his assessment of Petty Officer Telegraphist E. K. Kember, D.S.M., in August 1942. The Second War submariner’s D.S.M. and Bar group of five awarded to Petty Officer Telegraphist E. K. Kember, Royal Navy, who was decorated for his services in H.M.S. Truant in Norwegian waters in 1940 and in H.M.S. Torbay in the Mediterranean in 1941-42; a key player in the achievements of the latter submarine, which was skippered by V.C.-winning Commander A. C. C. Miers, R.N., he also won a ‘mention’ following Torbay’s part in Operation ‘Flipper’, the ill-fated raid on Rommel’s H.Q. Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R., with Second Award Bar (J. 133432 E. K. Kember, L. Tel., H.M.S. Truant) impressed naming; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45, with small M.I.D. oak leaf, mounted court-style for display, good very fine (5) £4,000-£5,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- D.S.M. London Gazette 9 May 1940: ‘In recognition of daring, endurance and resource in the conduct of hazardous and successful operations in His Majesty’s Submarines against the enemy.’ Bar to D.S.M. London Gazette 7 July 1942: ‘For gallant service in successful patrols while serving in H.M. Submarine Torbay.’ The original recommendation states: ‘For great skill and exceptional devotion to duty during seven war patrols, as Higher Telegraphist Detector, in H.M.S. Torbay, in the course of which he has brought his department to a very high standard of efficiency, and been responsible on frequent occasions for enemy ships being sighted and subsequently sunk after he has reported the bearing on which to look out. On ten occasions of it being necessary to communicate submerged with other submarines on patrol, to check position or pass intelligence reports, he has been completely successful, sometimes at very long range, and on twelve occasions of carrying out special operations in shallow waters off the enemy coast, or making reconnaissances and attacking shipping in enemy harbours, the efficient working of the supersonic sounding machine, and the ranges obtained by S.S.T. of the beach and coastline have been invaluable. Upon no other rating has so much depended on numerous occasions of enemy A./S. searches, hunts and counter-attacks, and the success of the operations and the safety of the submarine have frequently required him to remain at his post for periods exceeding ten hours without relaxing his vigilance, and on many of these occasions, I have relied implicitly upon him, and never in vain. His alertness on 20 December [1941] when, due to a gyro failure, a torpedo commenced to circle may have saved the submarine, since he gave me warning in time to take the submarine deep.’ Ernest Kynoch Kember was born at Glandford Brigg, Lincolnshire, on 24 February 1914, and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Telegraphist in the early 1930s. Volunteering for submarines in the following year, he qualified as a Higher Telegraphist Detector in September 1938, the same year in which he was advanced to Leading Telegraphist. Shortly after the outbreak of hostilities, he joined H.M. submarine Truant, and he remained likewise employed until February 1941, gaining advancement to Petty Officer Telegraphist and his first D.S.M. in the same period. The latter distinction arose from Truant’s early operations in Norwegian waters and, more specifically, her torpedo strike on the German light cruiser Karlsruhe on 9 April 1940. Truant was positioned off Kristiansand when she launched her attack, one of her torpedoes striking the enemy cruiser amidships on the starboard side, blasting a large hole in her hull and allowing thousands of tons of water to flood in. The flooding disabled her engines and electrical generators, which cut off the power required to operate her pumps. The order to abandon ship was given and the enemy torpedo boat Greif took off her crew before scuttling Karlsruhe with a brace of torpedoes. Kember was next deployed in Truant to the Mediterranean, in which she operated out of Gibraltar, Alexandria and Malta with notable success. In September 1940, she forced the scuttling of the German merchantman Tropic Sea and torpedoed and sank the Italian merchantman Providenza, the latter in a position off Ischia. And in December 1940, in the course of her 14th and 15th war patrols, she torpedoed and sank the Italian merchantman Sebastiano off Calabria and the tanker Bonzo off Punta Stilo, in addition to surviving a depth-charge attack from the Italian torpedo boat Alcione north of Tripoli, an attack that ‘shook Truant considerably. Returning to the U.K. in the new year, Kember joined the Torbay in April 1941, the commencement of his time under Commander A. C. C. ‘Crap’ Miers, R.N., who, over the coming months, would be awarded the V.C. and a brace of D.S.O.s for his aggressive leadership and mounting toll on the enemy. And that toll – and Torbay’s very survival – was largely owing to Kember’s skills as a Higher Telegraphist Director. So, too, in part to Miers’ unusual tactics when under depth-charge attack. Peter Padfield’s War Beneath the Sea explains: ‘His technique when hunted differed from that of most C.O.s; he never dived below about 80 feet - whether or not there was, as in this case, a ‘feather-bed’ layer - believing that the submarine’s frame and vulnerable hatch and other openings were in a better condition to resist the shock waves from depth-charges when not already under extreme pressure at maximum depth; further that he could more easily come up to periscope depth to review the position from 80 feet. By shutting off all auxiliary motors and maintaining the lowest speed compatible with holding trim, he hoped to remain undetectable by the Italian passive listening devices ... ’ If Torbay’s third war patrol in July 1941 was typical of her mounting Mediterranean score - her final ‘bag’ on that occasion amounting to the Italian submarine Jantina, the freighter Citta di Tripoli, the tanker Strombo, and several local troop and supply transports, including caiques – it also resulted in mounting controversy regarding the use of her guns against enemy soldiers and crew in just such troop-carrying caiques. The first indication of that controversy arose on 4 July, when Miers surfaced to engage with guns an enemy troop-carrying caique and schooner, between Andros and Euboea - having sunk both vessels, two Lewis guns were used from Torbay’s bridge to destroy ‘everything and everybody’. Then on 9 July similar tactics were employed against another troop-carrying caique - also laden with petrol, ammunition and food supplies. And it was on this second occasion that matters appear to have got out of hand, although it is worth noting that the enemy showed stout resistance on being boarded - a Corporal in the Special Boat Section had to shoot a German he saw about to hurl a grenade, and one of Torbay’s officers was compelled to dispatch another who was in the process of raising his rifle. Interestingly, this was not the first time that the R.N. had attracted adverse commentary from enemy survivors, German Naval High Command having alre...

The rare Great War C.B., royal visit M.V.O. group of six awarded to Major-General H. S. N. White, Royal Marine Light Infantry, who saw action with the Camel Corps at Abu Klea The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, C.B. (Civil) Companion’s breast badge, silver-gilt, hallmarked London 1916, complete with ribbon buckle; The Royal Victorian Order, M.V.O., Member’s 4th Class breast badge, silver-gilt, gold and enamels, the reverse officially numbered ‘430’; Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, undated reverse, 2 clasps, The Nile 1884-85, Abu Klea (Lieut. H. S. N. White, R.M.L.I.) impressed naming; British War Medal 1914-20 (Brig. Gen. H. S. N. White. R.M.L.I.); Coronation 1902, silver; Khedive’s Star, dated 1882 [note should be 1884-6] mounted court-style for wearing, light contact marks, otherwise good very fine (6) £4,000-£5,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Alan Hall Collection, June 2000. Just four Royal Marine officers received the Egypt & Sudan medal with clasps ‘The Nile 1884-85’ and ‘Abu Klea’. C.B. (Civil) London Gazette 1 January 1917. M.V.O. 4th Class London Gazette 11 March 1906. An award for ceremonial work and Guard of Honour duties during the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales to India 1905-06. Herbert Southey Neville White was born on 23 July 1862, the son of the Reverend H. S. White, of Tunstead, Norfolk, and was educated at Marlborough. Commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Chatham Division of the Royal Marine Light Infantry in September 1882, he was embarked for ‘special service’ in the flagship H.M.S. Alexandra in May 1884, namely for duties ashore in the Royal Marine Battalion in Egypt and the Sudan. He subsequently participated in the defence of the Sphinx Redoubt at Suakin from 17 June to 24 October 1884 and was one of four Marine officers appointed to the Royal Marine detachment of the Guards Camel Regiment in the advance up the Nile to rescue General Gordon at Khartoum. During that period, he was present at the actions of Abu Klea and Abu Kru (Gubat) and at the reconnaissance in force at Metemmeh, and the attack on the convoy of wounded, and at all other operations in the Bayuda Desert during the advance on the Nile. At Abu Klea and Abu Kru in particular, White and his men were heavily engaged with the Guards Camel Regiment in their defensive squares, their accurate rifle fire undoubtedly contributing to the defeat of the Dervish onslaught. But such was the scale and ferocity of the enemy attack in the former affair that our losses, accrued in just 10 minutes, were 76 killed and 82 wounded. The Mahdists took approximately 1,500 casualties. In The River War, Winston Churchill described the battle at Abu Klea as ‘the most savage and bloody action ever fought in the Sudan by British troops.’ On his return from Egypt, White was posted to the Divisional Headquarters at Chatham. Then, in September 1886, he was embarked in the steam corvette Canada, in which he served with the North America and West Indies Squadron. Having then been appointed to the Naval Intelligence Department at the Admiralty in December 1889, he was promoted to Captain on 1 June 1892. He returned to sea in the battleship Ramillies in the summer of 1895, the flagship of Admiral Sir John Hopkins, K.C.B., Commander in Chief on the Mediterranean Station. He next held a staff appointment in the Chatham Division, during which period he was advanced to Major in October 1899 and received the Coronation 1902 medal for his command of a Guard of Honour to Edward VII. White then returned to sea in the flagship Bulwark on the Mediterranean station, followed by a tour of duty in the battleship Renown in which he commanded the detachment of Royal Marines who, on the occasion of the visit to India in 1905-06 by the Prince and Princess of Wales, were called upon for guard and ceremonial duties. For these services he was awarded the M.V.O. 4th Class. Advanced to Lieutenant-Colonel in November 1907, White returned to the Admiralty as an Assistant Director in the Naval Intelligence Department, prior to being appointed Inspector of Marine Recruiting in October 1910. And on his promotion to Brigadier-General in January 1914, he became Colonel Commandant at the Royal Marine depot at Deal. He remained likewise employed for the duration of the Great War, being awarded the C.B. (Civil) and placed on the Retired List as a Major-General in May 1918. He died in February 1938. Sold with copied record of service and other research.

The unique campaign group of seven awarded to Commissioned Supply Officer J. Vanstone, Royal Navy Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Cape Colony, South Africa 1901 (J. Vanstone, Sh. Std., H.M.S. Thrush); Africa General Service 1902-56, 2 clasps, Aro 1901-1902, Somaliland 1908-10 (168537 Ship’s Std: J. Vanstone. H.M.S. Thrush); Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Persian Gulf 1909-1914 (168537. J. Vanstone, Sh. Std., H.M.S. Fox); 1914-15 Star (Wt. Std. J. Vanstone. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Wt. V.O. J. Vanstone. R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., E.VII.R. (168537 Jim Vanstone, Ship’s Steward, H.M.S. Fox), minor official corrections to rate on the third and last, contact marks to the earlier awards but generally very fine and a unique combination of medals and clasps to the Royal Navy (7) £2,600-£3,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, December 2004. All of the recipient’s pre-Great War Medals and clasps are verified on the published rolls, and constitute a quite unique combination of such honours to the Royal Navy. One of just 15 crew members of H.M.S. Thrush to earn the clasps ‘Cape Colony’ and ‘South Africa 1901’ to his Queen’s South Africa medal, he went on to become the only crew member to add the ‘Somaliland 1908-10’ clasp to his earlier distinction for ‘Aro 1901-1902’ to his Africa General Service medal, the former for subsequent service aboard the Fox - it is worth noting that only 46 men of the Royal Navy ever received the ‘Aro 1901-1902’ clasp in the first place. Jim Vanstone was born at Cawsand, Cornwall in July 1877 and entered the Royal Navy as a Ship’s Steward Boy in June 1892. As stated above, he went on to witness extensive active service in the Thrush, initially in the Boer War, and afterwards in the Aro expedition of 1901-02, a further clasp being added to his Africa General Service Medal for participation in the Somaliland operations of 1908-10 aboard the Fox, in which ship he also served in the Persian Gulf operations of 1909-14 and was awarded his L.S. & G.C. medal. On the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, Vanstone was serving as a Ship’s Steward in the battle cruiser Lion, and he was subsequently present in her at Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914, when she was hit by enemy fire on three occasions, Dogger Bank on 24 January 1915, when she was so badly damaged by the combined fire of the Blucher, Moltke and Seydlitz that she had to be towed back to port by the Indomitable, and again at Jutland on 31 May 1916, when she suffered serious casualties. Aside from those ships that were actually sunk at Jutland, none sustained more casualties than the Lion, suffering as she did six officers and 93 ratings killed, and another 43 wounded. Nor, too, did many ships survive such punishment, her main deck, funnel and port side all being liberally peppered with ‘great black splashes’ where enemy gunfire had found its mark - no better evidence of this damage can be found than in the photographs that appear in Fawcett’s and Hooper’s The Fighting at Jutland. Remarkably, given such statistics, the Lion’s guns were continuously in action, few accounts of the battle failing to mention the good effect she had on all who saw her, a reflection, too, of the aggressive tactics of Sir David Beatty, who was anxious to get to grips with the enemy. Vanstone transferred to the training establishment Impregnable as a Warrant Steward in June 1917, where he was still serving at the end of the War, and remained a regular right up until his death, as a result of heart failure, in December 1927. By that stage he had attained the ranks of Commissioned Victualling Officer (w.e.f. 1921) and Commissioned Supply Officer (w.e.f. 1923). Sold with copied record of service and other research.

The unique Boer War ‘defence of Ladybrand’ D.S.O. group of nine awarded to Colonel F. White, Royal Marine Light Infantry; a taste of his mettle in action first emerged at the battle of El-Teb, when he charged headlong into an enemy redoubt and cut down an assailant with his sword, prior to being rescued by four of his men, one of whom ‘clubbed and brained’ another assailant with the butt of his rifle - all five were duly ‘mentioned’ by Colonel Tuson Small wonder then that Commandant Fourie and his Boer Commando was told where to go on offering White an opportunity to surrender his vastly outnumbered garrison at Ladybrand in September 1900, the resultant defence winning the latter the D.S.O. and the admiration of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Distinguished Service Order, V.R., silver-gilt and enamels; Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 3 clasps, Alexandria 11th July, El-Teb_Tamaai, Suakin 1884 (Lieut: F. White. R.M.L.I. H.M.S. “Temeraire”; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Cape Colony, Wittebergen (Major F. White. R.M.L.I.); King's South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Lt. Col. F. White. D.S.O. R.M.L.I.); 1914-15 Star (Bt. Col. F. White. D.S.O.); British War and Victory Medals (Bt. Col. F. White.); Ottoman Empire, Order of the Medjidie, 4th Class breast badge, silver gold and enamels; Khedive's Star, dated 1882, mounted for wear, minor chipping and light contact marks, generally very fine or better (9) £8,000-£10,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, April 1995. Just four D.S.O.s were awarded to the Royal Marines for the Boer War. D.S.O. London Gazette 27 September 1901. Frederick White was born on 14 October 1861, the son of the late Major George White, R.M.L.I., and was himself commissioned in the Royal Marine Light Infantry in February 1879. He subsequently served in the Egyptian Expedition of 1882, taking part in the bombardment of Alexandria, the occupation of the lines of the town, and the occupation of Port Said. White again saw active service in the Sudan in 1884 when he was present at the battles of El-Teb and Tamaai, and the relief of Tokar, for which services he received the Order of Medjidie and was also mentioned in Colonel Tuson’s despatch for El-Teb: ‘Lieutenant White was personally ordered by the Major-General Commanding to charge the left redoubt of the enemy’s position at Teb with his company. He rushed to the front, when two of the enemy sprang on him, one on each side. He cut one man down twice with his sword, when Private Birtwhistle rushed to his assistance and forced his bayonet right through the black, breaking it short off. The black then severely wounded Private Birtwhistle, who clubbed his musket and brained him. The other black was stopped attacking Lieutenant White by Private F. Yerbury, who caught the man by the hair of his head, spinning him round and round so that he could not use his assegai, when Sergeant-Major Hirst rushed to the front and despatched him. Those four were also in a dangerous position in front of the attack at the time, as the fire from the side of the square was still continued on each side of them.’ Advanced to Captain in August 1888 and to Major in September 1896, White served on the Staff of the Royal Marines from June 1896 to February 1899, prior to his D.S.O. winning exploits in the Boer War. During that conflict he acted as a Special Service Officer from February 1900 until April 1902, his assorted appointments including those of Deputy Assistant Adjutant General at the Headquarters in Cape Town, Railway Staff Officer at Sterkstroom, Commandant at Bethulie Bridges, and a District Command under the Military Governor of Orange River Colony. Present in operations in the Orange River Colony, including the action at Wittebergen, he was mentioned in the despatches (London Gazette 19 September 1901, refers). He received the Queen’s Medal with the clasps ‘Cape Colony’ and ‘Wittebergen’, the latter being one of only seven issued to Royal Marine personnel, three of them to officers of which White was the most senior; his King’s Medal with two clasps was one of just 11 awarded to the Royal Marines. But it was for his gallant defence of Ladybrand that he was awarded the D.S.O., an action admiringly described by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in The Great Boer War: ‘On 2 September another commando of Free State Boers under Fourie emerged from the mountain country on the Basuto border and fell upon Ladybrand, which was held by a feeble garrison consisting of one company of the Worcester Regiment and 43 men of the Wiltshire Yeomanry under the overall command of Major F. White. The Boers, who had several guns with them, appear to have been the same force which had been repulsed at Winburg. Major White, a gallant Royal Marine, whose fighting qualities do not seem to have deteriorated with his distance from salt water, had arranged his defences upon a hill, after the Wepener model, and held his own most stoutly. So great was the disparity of the forces employed that for days acute anxiety was felt by the General Staff lest another of those humiliating surrenders should interrupt the record of victories and encourage the Boers to further resistance. The Boer attack was beaten back each time by the constancy of the British defence. The thin line of 150 soldiers, covering a mile and a half of ground, endured a heavy shell and rifle fire with unshaken resolution, repulsed every attempt of the burghers and held the flag flying until relieved three days later by the forces under Generals White and Hamilton.’ Another account of White’ stoic defence of Ladybrand appears in The Times History of the War in South Africa 1900-1902: ‘This little post was held by 80 men of the 1st Worcester Regiment, 43 Wiltshire Yeomanry, and 30 local volunteers, the whole under the command of Major F. White, R.M.L.I. On the evening of September 1st, a patrol came in with a report of the approach of the enemy from Modderpoort, and on the 2nd, at 7.30 a.m., a letter, signed by Commandant Fourie, was sent in asking for the immediate surrender of the garrison. White, having replied that if Fourie wanted the garrison he had better come and take it, posted the whole of his slender force on an intrenched hill to the south-west of the town. Fourie, with 800 men, opened shell and rifle fire, worked up to the post, and surrounded it on all sides. For three days and nights, however, the little garrison held firm. Of the Worcesters, Lieutenants Dorman and Moss and Corporal Kirkham, and of the Yeomanry Lieutenant Henderson and Sergeant-Major Lyford deserve special mention in this very fine defence, which Major White directed with marked resolution and ability. The town was relieved by Bruce Hamilton on the morning of September 5th.’ White was awarded the D.S.O., in addition to being mentioned in Lord Robert’s despatch of 4 September 1901. Advanced to Lieutenant-Colonel in April 1903 and awarded the Brevet of Colonel in April 1906, he retired in the rank of Colonel in April 1909. Recalled for service on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he served as a Draft Conducting Officer from 1915-19. The Colonel died at his home at St John’s Park, Blackheath in December 1924. Sold with copied record of service and other research.

The Victorian campaign group of four awarded to Captain F. Stirling, Royal Navy, who was specially promoted for his command of the Naval Brigade landed from H.M. ships Thistle and Fly during the Perak campaign but was later a victim of the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ when his ship was lost with all hands in February 1880 Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Sebastopol, unnamed as issued; China 1857-60, 1 clasp, Canton 1857, unnamed as issued; India General Service 1854-94, 1 clasp, Perak (Commdr. F. Stirling, R.N. H.M.S. “Thistle”); Turkish Crimea 1855, British issue, unnamed as issued, extremely fine (4) £4,000-£5,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, June 2006. Francis Stirling was born on 1 April 1839, son of Charles Stirling, of Muiravonside House, Linlithgow, West Lothian. Having attended Edinburgh Academy, he entered the Royal Navy as a Naval Cadet in March 1852 and joined Highflyer in May 1853, in which he was appointed Midshipman in March 1854. He subsequently served in that ship in the Crimea, including the bombardment of Sebastopol, 17 October, and the subsequent night attacks. Transferring to the Sans Pareil in June 1856, in which he was appointed Mate, he saw further action in the Second China War 1857-60, when he was landed with the Naval Brigade and participated in the assault, capture, and occupation of Canton. Advanced to Lieutenant in July 1859, he was subsequently present at the loss of the Bombay when she was burnt on 14 December 1864. On that occasion, when everything that could be thought of to save life had been done, Commander Wilson said to him, standing on the forecastle amid falling spars and burning ropes, the flames bursting through the upper deck, and the ship in momentary danger of blowing up, “Now, Stirling, we can do no more; we will jump overboard and swim to the boats.” His answer was calm and firm, “There is no hope for me; I can’t swim.” He was only saved, after great peril and painful suspense, from under the bows of the ship by a volunteer boat’s crew, at the imminent risk for a second time of their own lives. As Commander of Thistle during the Perak campaign of 1875-76, Stirling commanded the 3rd Division of Naval Brigade during operations against the Malays in the Straits of Malacca and defeated the Malays in two attacks at Passir Sala, for which he was specially mentioned for his zeal and energy. He also planned and carried out the attack and capture of Passir Sala, and subsequently commanded the Naval Brigade operating against Sungsi U’Jong, including the capture of the enemy’s stockades in the Buket Putas Pass. For his ‘distinguished service’ in the Malay Peninsula he was specially promoted to Captain on 9 March 1876. Stirling was immediately placed on half-pay whilst awaiting a suitable command which eventually came in September 1878, in the shape of the training ship Atalanta. A sailing frigate, built in 1844, Atalanta was converted into a training ship for ordinary seamen after the tragic loss of the Eurydice in March 1878 with her complement of some 300 men and boys. The Atalanta left Portsmouth on 7 November 1879, having on board 15 officers and 265 men and boys. It was Atalanta’s third voyage in the capacity of a training ship and early in the cruise yellow fever broke out and the Stirling decided to run for Bermuda, where he arrived on 29 January 1880. Two days later the ship sailed for home, having considerably shortened her timetable, and from the date of her leaving Bermuda the Atalanta was never heard of again. A terrific gale raged from the 12th to the 16th of February and it is possible that the vessel was overwhelmed by this. The Channel Squadron under Admiral Hood made an exhaustive search over a wide area but without result, and in May the Admiralty was compelled to conclude that the Atalanta was lost. A Naval Officer, writing after the loss of the Atalanta, said: ‘The noble character of Captain Francis Stirling is alone sufficient reason for speaking of his sad death, apart from the great calamity in which his ship and her living freight are included. I speak with confidence when I say that no officer in the Navy had won more universal affection and respect among those with whom he had served than Francis Stirling ... his calmness in danger will, one may trust, have stood all around him in good stead in their last moments.’ Sold with copied record of service and other research.

The unique inter-war and Second War ‘Triple D.S.M.’ group of eight awarded to Chief Petty Officer T. A. Topley, Royal Navy; first decorated for his gallant deeds in the gunboat Sandpiper on the Yangtse River during the Sino-Japanese conflict in 1938-39, he added a Bar to his decoration for like services as a member of a beach party at Dunkirk in 1940, and a second Bar for his ‘fighting spirit’ in command of “A” turret in the cruiser H.M.S. Dido at the Second Battle of the Sirte in 1942 Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R., with Second and Third Award Bars (T. Topley, P.O. R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Pacific Star; Defence Medal and War Medals 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (J.112800 T. A. Topley, C.P.O. H.M.S. Dido) mounted court-style for display, good very fine (8) £30,000-£40,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Just five ‘Triple D.S.M.s’ have ever been awarded, two of the 2nd Bars being awarded in the Great War and three of them in the Second World War; uniquely, one man added a 3rd Bar to his award in the latter conflict. D.S.M. London Gazette 1 January 1940: ‘For services during the Sino-Japanese Conflict.’ D.S.M. Second Award Bar London Gazette 7 June 1940: ‘For good services in the withdrawal of the Allied Armies from the beaches of Dunkirk.’ The original recommendation states: ‘For distinguished service as members of the beach parties employed on the beaches and breakwater at Dunkirk during the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force and part of the French Army. The initiative, resource, and power of endurance displayed by these ratings, under the most arduous and hazardous conditions was worthy of the highest praise, and contributed largely towards the rapid and successful embarkation of the Troops.’ D.S.M. Third Award Bar London Gazette 8 September 1942: ‘For gallantry, skill and seamanship in H.M.S. Dido, in a brilliant action against strong enemy forces, which were driven off and severely damaged. This action resulted in the safe passage to Malta of an important convoy.’ The original recommendation states: ‘For courage, coolness and devotion to duty in the face of greatly superior enemy forces. Throughout the commission this C.P.O. has by his resolute character, fighting spirit and fine seamanship shown a grand example to all junior ratings. During the action for which I now recommend him for a decoration as senior rating in charge of “A” Turret he carried out his duties in exemplary fashion, and his turret did not miss firing a single round.’ Thomas Alan Topley was born in Lewisham, London, on 24 June 1909, and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in January 1925. Advanced to Petty Officer in October 1935, he joined the gunboat H.M.S. Sandpiper on the China station in April 1937 and remained likewise employed until returning to the U.K. in January 1940. Here, then, the period of active service in which he was awarded his first D.S.M. In the summer of 1938, the Sandpiper was based at Changsha, capital of Hunan province, which lay on the Xiang River, a tributary of the Yangtse. The Sino-Japanese War was raging at that time and the Japanese were attempting to capture the nearby city of Wuhan, which was defended with great tenacity. In consequence, endless columns of refugees passed through Changsha and many inhabitants left the city. Amidst this chaos, Sandpiper stood alone in protecting British interests in the Changsha area, and her captain, Lieutenant-Commander W. E. J. Eames, doubled up as British consul. Japanese air-raids increased in intensity and on 6 September 1938 bombs straddled Sandpiper which, because of her shallow draught, swayed at her anchors ‘like a novice water-skier’ but luckily there were no direct hits and no injuries other than minor cuts and bruises. Commander Eames subsequently reported to his Admiral: ‘Six Japanese bombers dropped a number of bombs around Sandpiper. Two cabins and sickbay wrecked. Considerable damage to superstructure but no underwater damage. No casualties. Consider attack deliberate.’ During the same attack, a ferry-boat loaded with refugees which had anchored only 30 yards away received a direct hit and sank, and several junks were also sunk, and Sandpiper sent away her boats to rescue survivors. Commander Eames also recorded in his report, ‘I would like to comment on the cool and excellent conduct of my officers and ship’s company, who did splendid work in saving the lives of a large number of people. Surgeon Lieutenant Sheridan is particularly deserving of high commendation.’ It is equally apparent that Topley likewise distinguished himself on the same occasion, subsequently receiving one of two D.S.M.s for the action. Shortly before Christmas 1939, the ship’s company was notified that Sandpiper was to be laid up and her personnel evacuated. Their subsequent journey from the interior of China was not a straightforward matter, as the Sino-Japanese war raged across much of the country. The overland route to Ningpo was selected following publication of a missionary’s account of a successful journey using this route. Many preparations had to be made, including the destruction of all the ammunition and the packing of nearly seven tons of stores which had to be brought out. The sailors were dressed in civilian clothes and all had grown beards to disguise their identity as naval personnel. They departed Changsha at 6 a.m. on 15 January 1940, in junks and sampans, and the journey to Shanghai took 15 days, requiring many modes of transport - boats, lorries, train, buses, and at one time rickshaws. On five or six nights they found accommodation in local hotels, but the other nights were spent on lorries or trains in bitterly old conditions. Their eventual arrival in Shanghai was followed by a celebration. The ship’s company then travelled to Hong Kong from where they took passage in the P. & O. liner Viceroy of India to England, where they disembarked at the end of March 1940. Following his return to the U.K., Topley was borne on the books of Pembroke I, from which employ he was seconded for service in Operation ‘Dynamo’ in May-June 1940. As cited above, he came ashore as a member of a beach party at Dunkirk, where his initiative, resource, and power of endurance, under the most arduous and hazardous conditions, was worthy of the highest praise. He was awarded a Bar to his D.S.M., which he received at a Buckingham Palace investiture in March 1941. Having been advanced to Chief Petty Officer in September 1940, in which month he joined the cruiser Dido, Topley was awarded his L.S. and G.C. medal in March 1942, the same month in which he distinguished himself for his ‘fighting spirit’ in command of Dido’s “A” turret at the 2nd Battle of Sirte on the 22nd. Earlier, in May-June 1941, Topley saw much action in the evacuation of Crete, when Dido went through some of the heaviest fighting and joined in the ‘midnight massacre’ of an enemy convoy north of Canea. But she was herself badly damaged, taking a bomb hit on a forward turret with resultant casualties. Topley likely shared in further honours in Dido and received his 3rd Bar at a Buckingham Palace investiture on 13 May 1943. He was finally pensioned ashore in July 1949 and died in Herne Bay, Kent, in August 1990. Sold with his original Admiralty admittance ticket for the latter investiture, together with copied research.

The unusual and rare campaign group of three awarded to Captain J. N. Lalor, Royal Marine Light Infantry and Niger Coast Protectorate Force, who, having won ‘mentions’ for the capture of two Arab dhows off Zanzibar in 1890, and for his cool conduct and bravery at Witu later that year, was mortally wounded in the Alecto’s steam cutter while carrying out a reconnaissance of Brohemie Creek on the Benin River in 1894 Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, undated reverse, 2 clasps, Suakin 1885, Tofrek (Lieut. J. N. Lalor, R.M.L.I.); East and West Africa 1887-1900, 2 clasps, Benin River 1894, Witu 1890 (J. N. Lalor, Niger Coast Prot.) the ‘Witu 1890’ clasp loose on ribbon; Khedive’s Star, dated 1884-6, minor contact marks, otherwise very fine and better (3) £3,000-£4,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, December 2007. James Nicholas Lalor was born in Dublin in April 1863 and was commissioned Lieutenant in the Royal Marine Light Infantry in September 1882. Appointed an Instructor of Gunnery in April 1890, and advanced to Captain in July 1893, he first saw active service with the Royal Marine Battalion defending Suakin. He was subsequently engaged in the operations in Eastern Sudan 1884-85, being present at the action at Hasheen on 20 March 1885, the attack on Sir J. McNeill’s zareba at Tulufik on the 22 March, the attack on the square of Guards and Marines near Tofrek on 24 March, and at the taking and burning of Tamaai on 3 April, being severely wounded during the latter engagement. Lalor next served in the Indian Ocean in command of cruising boats, and was mentioned in despatches in 1890 for the capture of two Arab dhows off Pemba Island and Zanzibar. He then served with the Royal Marine Battalion that formed part of the Naval Brigade under Vice-Admiral Sir E. R. Freemantle in the punitive expedition against the Sultan of Witu, and won a second “mention” for his deeds in the attack along the Witu road, the Admiral noting he was ‘struck with the cool conduct of the Marines under Lieutenant-Colonel Poole and Lieutenant Lalor, R.M.L.I., a considerable body of the enemy being at one time in front of them at less than 200 yards’. He further noted that he was ‘bounded to mention specially Lieutenant W. C. Slater in command of the Field Guns, and Lieutenants E. M. Hewett and A. T. Hunt, R.N. and Lieutenant James N. Lalor, R.M.L.I. as efficient Company Officers’. Having then been seconded for service with the Royal Niger Coast Protectorate, in the rank of Captain, Lalor took part in the Benin River Expedition of 1894 against Chief Nanna of Brohemie Town, Brohemie Creek. In an attempt to reconnoitre the enemy’s positions, the steam cutter from H.M.S. Alecto was sent up the creek under Lieutenant-Commander Heugh, accompanied by Major C. Crawford, Consular Agent to the Niger Coast Protectorate, Lalor, six ratings and a native interpreter. However, the cutter came under fire from a battery of concealed guns, which, though at length silenced by rockets, killed the coxswain and wounded others, Lalor mortally so - the cutter in a sinking state barely made it back to the Alecto. For this action Heugh was awarded the D.S.O., two ratings the C.G.M. and Lalor a posthumous mention in despatches - ‘Captain Lalor also, though so severely wounded, was endeavouring to support me [Heugh] in bringing the boat out of this difficulty’. Sold with copied services papers and extracts of Vice-Admiral Fremantle’s despatches for the Witu Expedition of 1890 and Rear-Admiral Bedford and Lieutenant-Commander Heugh’s despatches for the Benin River Expedition of 1894.

The Great War Jutland D.S.M. group of six awarded to Gunner C. P. Peckham, Royal Navy, who was also the recipient of the Naval Good Shooting Medal with Bar, likewise for services in H.M.S. Superb Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (169822 C. P. Peckham, C.P.O., H.M.S. Superb 31 May - 1 June, 1916.); 1914-15 Star (169822 C. P. Peckham, C.P.O. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Gnr. C. Peckham. R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (169822 C. P. Peckham, C.P.O., H.M.S. Revenge.); Naval Good Shooting Medal, E.VII.R., with Second Award Bar specially embossed ‘H.M.S. “Superb” 1913. 12” B.L.’ (169822 C. P. Peckham, P.O. 1Cl, H.M.S. Superb. 1910. 12 In. B.L.), light contact marks, otherwise good very fine (6) £2,400-£2,800 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Just 53 Naval Good Shooting Medals with First Bars were awarded. D.S.M. London Gazette 15 September 1916: ‘Recommended for honour.’ Charles Percy Peckham was born at Broadwater, Sussex on 20 June 1877, and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in October 1892. Over the coming decade he attended the gunnery establishment Excellent on several occasions and gained steady advancement. In May 1909, he joined the battleship H.M.S. Superb, aboard which he was awarded his Naval Good Shooting Medal in 1910, having excelled as a member of the turret crew of a 12-inch breech-loading gun. Having then served in the battleship Revenge, in which he was advanced to Chief Petty Officer in February 1912 and awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in the following June, he rejoined the Superb and added a Bar to his Good Shooting Medal in the fleet competition in 1913. Peckham remained actively employed in the Superb until August 1917, in which period he saw action at Jutland, when she formed part of the 4th Battle Squadron under Admiral Sir John Jellicoe and was credited with hits on the Weisbaden and Derfflinger. Those hits were achieved with her main 12-inch armament and surely in part attributable to Peckham’s established gunnery record. He was awarded the D.S.M. Having come ashore to Excellent in August 1917, he was commissioned as a ‘Gunner, R.N.’ in May 1918 and ended the war in torpedo boat 077. He was pensioned ashore in February 1919 and died in June 1954.

The highly emotive Norway 1940 ‘V.C. action’ C.G.M. awarded to Petty Officer W. T. W. Scott, Royal Navy, whose guns were seen to re-engage the enemy after his destroyer H.M.S. Glowworm rammed the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, and was sinking: he was one of a handful of survivors from this magnificent but hopeless duel against overwhelming odds Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, G.VI.R., 1st type (P.O. W. T. W. Scott, P/J. 113793) officially engraved naming, good very fine £18,000-£22,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Douglas-Morris Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, February 1997 and July 2003. C.G.M. London Gazette 10 July 1945: ‘For great gallantry in H.M.S. Glowworm’s last action on 8 April 1940. H.M.S. Glowworm attacked the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and, after inflicting damage, was sunk with colours flying.’ In the original Admiralty letter of notification for the recipient’s award, dated 18 July 1945, which is included with the Lot, it is stated that Scott was to be decorated ‘for great bravery in charge of two of the guns of H.M.S. Glowworm during a very gallant action fought on 8 April 1940 against overwhelming odds. After your ship had rammed the enemy and was about to sink from the damage she had received in the action, your guns re-opened fire and scored a hit at close range.’ Churchill’s conjecture that the Glowworm had been sunk by greatly superior forces was an accurate one, but it would be another five years before returning P.O.Ws could reveal the full story of her momentous duel with the Admiral Hipper, an engagement which resulted in a posthumous V.C. to her Captain, Lieutenant-Commander G. B. Roope, R.N. In April 1940, the British War Cabinet, pressed by the French, had resolved to mine Norwegian waters around Narvik, in order to stem the flow of Swedish iron ore to Germany. And the British Expeditionary Force, originally intended for service in the Finnish Winter War, was rapidly recalled and placed on standby in the event of Nazi intervention. In the event, the mining operation, which had been due to commence on the 5th, was delayed until the 8th, due to the French backing out of an agreement to launch some mines on the Rhine in exchange. As it transpired, this was a vital delay. On 7 April the battle cruiser Renown, steaming northwards in the Norwegian Sea to take part in the mining operation, received a signal from one of her four escorting destroyers, the Glowworm, reporting a man overboard and requesting permission to turn back and carry out a search. Given the affirmative, the Glowworm scoured the area for two hours but in vain, and her Captain, Lieutenant-Commander G. B. Roope, R.N., called the search off. That night, as the weather deteriorated, Glowworm was forced to reduce speed, falling yet further behind the Renown and her consorts. Shortly after daybreak on the 8th, Roope sighted a destroyer to the north which at first identified herself as Swedish, but which was in fact the German Paul Jakobi. Without further ado, the latter opened fire. Glowworm responded in kind, with 12 salvoes from her 4.7-inch guns, before switching her attention to another German destroyer, the Bernd von Arnim, which was crammed full of enemy troops for the invasion of Trondheim. Roope decided to shadow her to see whether she would lead him to intelligence of any enemy capital ships. Thus far, the Glowworm was in relatively good shape, although her gun control tower had been flooded by the heavy seas and another two crew members swept overboard. Seven others, too, had been injured by the destroyer’s violent rolling. A short while into her shadowing of the Bernd von Arnim, about five miles to the northwest of her earlier contacts, the Glowworm came upon the 10,000-ton heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, armed with eight 8-inch and twelve 4-inch guns. The latter was also crammed with enemy troops destined for Trondheim. And Roope had barely got away his enemy sighting report before the Admiral Hipper’s very first salvo found its mark. Although facing impossible odds, he now swung his 1345-ton destroyer onto course for a torpedo attack, under cover of smoke, but had barely uttered the the words of command when another enemy shell found its mark, killing or wounding the Surgeon’s sick bay party. Another shell brought down part of the foremast and wireless aerials, which fouled the steam siren on the funnel, so that Glowworm embarked on her final journey accompanied by the sounds of a strange, tortured wail. Inevitably, perhaps, her spread of her five torpedoes failed to stop the Admiral Hipper, none of them finding their mark. Meanwhile, another direct hit had started a large fire in the engine room, but the gallant Roope ordered a second torpedo attack, emerging from smoke to cross the enemy’s bow from port to starboard, a scene captured by a camera aboard the heavy cruiser. Again, however, the strike failed, and Roope now ordered a sharp turn to starboard to ram the enemy, an objective achieved at 20 knots, the impact resulting in 100 feet of armoured plating being torn from the Admiral Hipper’s starboard side. But no vital damage had been inflicted on the enemy, and, as Glowworm drew away, she was swept by fire from smaller weapons at point-blank range. It was at this juncture, when Glowworm had drifted to a range of about 400 yards, that Petty Officer Scott and his surviving gun crew got away a final salvo that found its mark. At 10 a.m. Roope gave the order to abandon ship but remained on the bridge himself, smoking a cigarette. Later, however, some survivors saw him assist others into their lifejackets, and again, in the water, alongside the Admiral Hipper, but by then too weak to take a rope. According to John Winton’s The Victoria Cross at Sea: ‘Gerard Roope was a large, burly man, with a broad face, firm jaw and forthright manner. He was a career naval officer, devoted to the Service. His ship’s company called him ‘Old Ardover’, for his habit of altering course violently towards his objective whether or not it was the men’s mealtime or any other consideration. It was typical of him to go straight for Hipper ...’ The chivalrous enemy commander, Captain Helmuth Heye, actually stayed for over an hour to pick up survivors, eventually rescuing one Officer and 30 ratings out of Glowworm’s original complement of 149 men. Unlike two of the Glowworm’s survivors who died in captivity, Petty Officer Walter Thomas William Scott was repatriated from Marlag und Milag Nord, Westertimke (Tarnstedt) in 1945, and received his C.G.M. from the hands of the King at an investiture on 30 October 1945. Sold with original Admiralty letter of notification for the award of the C.G.M., dated 18 July 1945.

The fine Great War Q-ship action D.S.M. group of five awarded to Chief Petty Officer W. E. Swanson, Royal Navy, who was decorated for his gallant gunnery work in the three-masted barquentine Gaelic (Q-22) with an enemy submarine off Ireland in April 1917 Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (J.1599 W. E. Swanson, P.O. Atlantic Ocean. 22. Apl. 1917.); 1914-15 Star (J.1599 W. E. Swanson. L.S. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (J.1599 W. E. Swanson. P.O. R.N.); Naval L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 2nd issue with fixed suspension (J.1599 W. E. Swanson, C.P.O. H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth) edge bruising and contact marks, otherwise very fine or better (5) £1,800-£2,200 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, December 2000. D.S.M. London Gazette 20 July 1917: ‘For services in action with enemy submarines.’ The original recommendation states: H.M.S. Gaelic (Q. 22) Action with an enemy submarine on 22 April 1917. In charge of after guns during the engagement. Second shot from the port gun hit submarine in vicinity of conning tower. Fourth shot was also a direct hit a little further forward. Later when in charge of starboard after gun secured another direct hit striking the submarine just abaft the conning tower. In total 52 rounds fired from the two after guns.’ William Edwin Swanson was born in Ardglass, Co. Down on 5 March 1892, and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in June 1908. By the outbreak of hostilities, he was serving as a Leading Seaman in the battleship Colossus, in which he remained employed until removing to the Vengeance in December 1915. Advanced to Petty Officer in April 1916, he subsequently witnessed active service off East Africa, including the operations that led to the capture of Dar es Salaam in the same year. Having then volunteered for decoy ships on coming ashore from the Vengeance in early 1917, Swanson served in the Gaelic (a.k.a. Q. 22) from May-October 1917. A three-masted barquentine, built in 1876, she was surely one of the oldest ships to have been employed in decoy operations. On the evening of 22 April 1917, Gaelic sighted a submarine 5000 yards away, some 50 miles south of the Old Head of Kinsale. Hands were called down from aloft immediately and action stations sounded. The submarine kept its distance and fired shell after shell, of which six hit the Gaelic, killing two of the deck hands and wounding four, besides putting the port motor out of action and seriously damaging the rigging. After a while the sailing ship unmasked her guns and opened fire, prompting the submarine to alter course and fire a torpedo. Luckily Gaelic was able to manoeuvre sufficiently for this to pass harmlessly along the starboard side. After three misses, Gaelic’s forward gun obtained a hit on the submarine but then the firing pin broke and the gun was temporarily put out of action. Firing continued from her starboard gun and the two adversaries traded shells for about 40 minutes when the submarine moved slowly away to the south-west, still firing. Gaelic had sustained a hit in her fresh-water tank which leaked through the deck onto the starboard motor, putting it out of action, rendering her completely without power on a windless evening. However, Swanson and his fellow gunners maintained their fire, and another two hits were scored on the German submarine which eventually ceased fire, but not before Gaelic scored a final hit at a range of 4000 yards. Thus ended the protracted action, each side having fired about 100 rounds and, although the submarine, the UC-47, was not sunk, she was certainly badly knocked about. Gaelic set her sails despite the badly damaged rigging and made for the Old Head of Kinsale. At daybreak, when still 10 miles short of that landfall, she was picked up by H.M. sloop Bluebell and towed into Queenstown. Gaelic’s skipper, Lieutenant G. Irvine, R.N.R., was awarded the D.S.O. for this exploit, whilst Swanson’s impressive gunnery skills earned him the D.S.M. He subsequently saw out the war with appointments in Vivid I (October 1917-July 1918) and at the Granton naval base Gunner (July-December 1918), appointments that may have included further Q-ship operations. Then in January 1919 he joined the mine-sweeper Holderness, in which ship he served in the Baltic and was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 22 January 1920, refers). He also added the L.S. & G.C. Medal to his accolades in March 1925. Sadly, however, as verified by his service record, he started to suffer from a form of dementia and, in October 1926, he was invalided ashore and placed in the care of the Plymouth Poor Law Institution. Sold with copied research.

‘It is difficult to do adequate justice to an Admiral of the Fleet who was born nearly a century ago and whose life covered such a tremendous range: at sea in the pre-Dreadnought Navy; served in both World Wars; designed, put together and fought a successful major sea action with the most advanced naval weapon of the age; who spent eight months in a Bolshevik prison but 25 years later received the Order of Suvorov, 1st Class, at the hand of Stalin himself; who commanded three Fleets in war; was Controller of the Royal Navy and First Sea Lord; a member of the House of Lords; who made no great mistakes nor great enemies and was loved and respected by all with whom he came into contact … He never boasted of anything and it would be hard to find a man of his talents and position so totally devoid of pretension and pomposity, so unconscious of rank or position, and so very human and endowed with the common touch. He never sought publicity but when it came his way he would use it to promote the Navy, not himself … He had a keen sense of humour and an enormous sense of fun. Like all great leaders he had a streak of independence, a touch of rebel, backed by a dogged determination from which he would not be deflected so long as he was convinced he was right … ’ So stated Admiral Sir Henry Leach, G.C.B., at a Service of Thanksgiving for Admiral of the Fleet Baron Fraser of North Cape, at Westminster Abbey on 8 April 1981. The nationally important Second World War G.C.B., K.B.E. group of nineteen awarded to Admiral of The Fleet Baron Fraser of North Cape, who orchestrated the destruction of the Scharnhorst and signed the Japanese Surrender on behalf of Great Britain in September 1945 Such momentous achievements and historic occasions aside, Fraser had long before gained the glowing approbation of his seniors, from his stoic endurance of seven shocking months as a prisoner of the Bolsheviks at Baku in 1920, after being captured on a secret mission, to his pioneering work as Controller of the Royal Navy in 1939-42: in the latter post he masterminded the ship building programme that won the Battle of the Atlantic and afterwards became the only British Admiral to devise a new weapons system, oversee its production, and then win a major sea battle with it The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, G.C.B. (Military) Knight Grand Cross set of insignia, comprising sash badge, silver-gilt and enamels, with gold centres; breast star, silver, with gold and enamel appliqué centre, with display sash; The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, K.B.E. (Military) 2nd type, Knight Commander’s set of insignia, comprising neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels; breast star, silver, silver-gilt and enamels; 1914-15 Star (Lt. Commr. B. A. Fraser, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Lt. Commr. B. A. Fraser. R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Pacific Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Coronation 1937; Coronation 1953; United States of America, Navy Distinguished Service Medal, gilt and enamels; France, Croix de Guerre, 1939, with palm; Denmark, Order of the Dannebrog, Grand Cross set of insignia, comprising sash Badge, Frederick IX, silver-gilt and enamels; breast star, silver-gilt and enamels, with display sash; France, 3rd Republic, Legion of Honour, Commander’s neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels; The Netherlands, Order of Orange Nassau, Grand Officer’s set of insignia, with swords, by Casa das Condecoracoes, Lisbon, comprising neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels; breast star, silver, silver-gilt and enamels; Norway, Order of St. Olaf, 3rd type, Grand Cross set of insignia by Tostrup, Oslo, comprising sash badge with swords, gold and enamels; breast star without swords, silver, gold and enamels, with display sash; Soviet Russia, Order of Suvorov, 2nd type, 1st Class badge, gold, platinum, silver and enamel, the reverse officially numbered ‘102’ and stamped Monetny Dvov, original screw-back fitting removed and replaced by a pin-fitting, mounted court-style as worn where applicable, enamel work chipped in places, especially on Legion of Honour which is also lacking its original loop suspension, otherwise generally very fine and better (24) £30,000-£40,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Spink, November 1998. G.C.B. London Gazette 5 January 1944: ‘For good services rendered in the pursuit and destruction of the Scharnhorst on 26 December 1943.’ K.B.E. London Gazette 1 July 1941. Denmark, Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog, not gazetted: Visit to Norway as First Sea Lord. France, Commander of the Legion of Honour and Croix de Guerre, not gazetted: For services to the Free French Naval Forces when C.-in-C. of the Home Fleet. The Netherlands, Grand Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau London Gazette 19 January 1943: ‘For services to the Royal Netherlands Navy in the United Kingdom and the Far East.’ Norway, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olaf London Gazette 13 January 1948: ‘For service to the Royal Norwegian Navy in the war.’ Soviet Russia, 1st Class of the Order of Suvorov London Gazette 29 February 1944: ‘For distinguished services in the action which resulted in the sinking of the German battleship Scharnhorst.’ United States of America, Navy Distinguished Service Medal, not gazetted. Admiral of the Fleet Baron Fraser of North Cape, G.C.B., K.B.E. - ‘the victor of the Royal Navy’s last battleship action and Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful fleet Britain has ever sent to sea’ - was born Bruce Austin Fraser, the youngest son of General Alexander Fraser, C.B., R.E., in London on 5 February 1888. The General allotted his sons their respective careers shortly before his death in 1898, telling the older one he would join the Army and the younger, Bruce, that he would go into the Navy. Mrs. Fraser never thought of altering her husband’s choice, and in due course the boys went to Bradfield which offered both Army and Navy classes. In September 1902, the younger Fraser passed well into H.M.S. Britannia and on completing his Cadetship with distinction in January 1904, he was appointed a Midshipman in the Channel Fleet battleship Hannibal. Over the next seven years, amid Lord Fisher’s white-hot crusade for efficiency, he advanced steadily to the rank of Lieutenant, serving in a succession of battleships and destroyers in home waters. In 1911, having decided to specialise, he commenced the forbidding Long Gunnery Course at H.M.S. Excellent, Whale Island, where for ten months or more candidates were exhaustively examined on every subject from ballistics and dynamics to personal marksmanship with rifle and pistol. When the results of the Long Course were published in October 1912, Fraser emerged top of his class and carried off the Egerton Prize. Now ‘a man of mark in the branch of the Service in which promotion was regarded as most certain,’ he was next sent on the Advanced Gunnery Course at Greenwich and then returned to Whale Island as a Junior Instructor to produce, on the eve of the First World War, the Navy’s handbook on Director Firing. Yet, even though recognised as a leading exponent of modern Naval gunnery in 1914, he was destined to serve the first two years of the war far from the technical excellence of the Grand Fleet’s Battle Squadrons massed in Scapa Flow. In July 1914, he was appointed Gunnery Officer of the elderly light cruiser Minerva, and subsequently saw active service patrolling Akaba at the head of the Red Sea, landing agents, firing on forts, rescuin...

The important Navarino and Arctic exploration pair awarded to Seaman John Park, Royal Navy, a member of Captain John Ross’s private expedition in the Victory of 1829-33, during which they discovered the Northern Magnetic Pole but were forced to spend four winters in the Arctic Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Navarino (John Park.); Arctic 1818-55 (John Park from 1829 to 1833) contemporarily engraved on the edges, good very fine (2) £20,000-£24,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- By 1829 the Admiralty had been discouraged from continuing the search to find the North West Passage and it therefore fell to private enterprise to continue the search for the route. Captain John Ross was placed in command of this expedition and the plan was to follow the route of Parry’s voyage in 1824-25, by sailing down Prince Regent Inlet and from there finding a route to the west. In May 1829 he sailed in Victory, a small paddle steamer and the first steam ship to be used for Arctic exploration. She was accompanied by a tender named Krusenstern. The ship’s engine was so large that it took up most of the room on board. It was found, during the voyage, that she was faster using sails than using the engine so eventually its use was discontinued. Ross followed Parry’s route across Lancaster Sound and down Prince Regent Inlet to Fury Beach. There they found the stores and food left by Parry when Fury had been abandoned in 1825. From Fury Beach they continued southward tracing the coast of North Somerset to its southern tip, surveying more than two hundred miles of coastline. Instead of turning into Brentford Bay (now known as Bellot Strait) which would, in fact, have led westward as this was the northernmost point of mainland America, Ross continued southward and thus missed the extension of the North West Passage. Following the coast to the south of Brentford Bay he eventually reached Felix Harbour where Victory wintered and where they contacted the eskimos. From the ship a number of land journeys undertaken by Lieutenant James Clark Ross, John Ross’s nephew, during which he discovered that the position of the North Magnetic Pole could not be far away. Victory was unable to break out of the ice during the summer of 1830 and remained at Felix Harbour for a further winter. James Clark Ross continued his land exploration during the winter of 1830-31 and in May 1831 located the position of the North Magnetic Pole, where he erected a cairn. He also saw during these land journeys what was later named King William Land, which he explored from its northern tip, Cape Felix, to Victory Point on the west coast. Sixteen years later, this was to be the scene of Franklin’s death and the later abandonment of Erebus and Terror. Throughout 1831, hope continued of the ship clearing the ice and, eventually, late in the season, she broke free and sailed northwards, but she was again caught in the ice before reaching Lancaster Sound and had to spend the third winter at Victory Harbour. Here scurvy hit the crew and it was decided to abandon Victory and to pull the small boats over the ice to Fury Beach to reach the provisions left by Parry. At Fury Beach they found three of the boats left by Parry, and John Ross, with a crew of picked men, sailed ahead to reconnoitre the state of Lancaster Sound. He found it jammed with ice and had therefore to return to Fury Beach where they were forced to spend the winter of 1832-33, their fourth in the Arctic. At Fury Beach they built a house in which to live throughout the winter. When spring came they took to the boats and sailed northwards to Lancaster Sound and, off Navy Board Inlet, they sighted what turned out to be the Isabella which had been Ross’s ship on his 1818 expedition. They were taken aboard and returned to England. Following this John Ross was knighted and his nephew promoted to Commander. John Park was born in 1803, at Bridport, in Dorsetshire, was five feet seven inches high, of a sallow complexion, with light blue eyes. His father, who belonged to the Dock-yard at Portsmouth, had him bound seven years apprentice to a hair-dresser, a trade he did not like, and when his time was out he went to sea in 1821, on board His Majesty’s ship Euryalus, in which he served three years, when he paid off, and immediately joined the Glasgow, on board of which he served three years in the Mediterranean. Being asked by me, “What was the most remarkable event in his life?” he answered, that he “had shaved the Duke of Devonshire in a gale on board the Glasgow.” I then asked, “Were you not on board her at the battle of Navarino?” he replied, “Oh, yes, but that was nothing.” His father having lost his life in the American lakes, where he had volunteered to serve, his mother married Mr More, gunner of the Tenedos, who was formerly in the Hecla, and who recommended him to me. He was a very active, willing young man, and useful in his calling as a barber, but too delicate in constitution for this service. Being a good seaman, and having always conducted himself well, I gave him a strong recommendation, and he was, with Curtis, sent by Admiralty order to the Excellent, to prepare for a gunner’s warrant in the royal navy.’ (Biography by Captain John Ross) Little is known of Park’s later life but in the list of Subscribers to Ross’s Narrative he is shown as care of the John O’Gaunt steamer, Liverpool, which infers that he took up a career in the merchant navy, even though he does appear to have received a commission as Gunner R.N. Sold with Sir John Ross’s Narrative of a second voyage in search of a North West Passage, and of a Residence in the Arctic Regions during the years 1829, 1830, 1831, 1832, 1833, two volumes, London 1835, the title page inscribed ‘Mr John Park with the author’s best regards’, with many colour plates, later leather binding; also with photograph on glass of Park in later life wearing N.G.S. Medal, and named invitation to Lord Mayor’s Dinner, December 1876, ‘to meet the Crews of The Arctic Expedition’ [ie Alert and Discovery for 1876 expedition].

The unique and quite outstanding Great War Q-ship ‘Baralong incident’ D.S.M. and Caspian Sea 1919 operations Second Award Bar group of seven awarded to Chief Petty Officer Harry Dickason, Royal Navy, who had earlier been a stoic member of the Northern Party in Scott’s Antarctic Expedition of 1910-13, when, over nine months, he shared in a story of endurance and courage rarely matched in the annals of exploration. Afterwards an equally valued member of the North-West Persia Mission in 1920, when he became one of just four naval personnel awarded the related Medal and clasp ‘N.W. Persia 1920’ Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R., with Second Award Bar (209527. H. Dickason, P.O. H.M.S. Baralong.) the reverse of the Bar officially impressed ‘Caspian Sea. 1918-19.’; 1914-15 Star (209527, H. Dickason. D.S.M., P.O., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (209527 H. Dickason. P.O. R.N.); Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, N.W. Persia 1920 (209527 H. Dickason. C.P.O. R.N.); Polar Medal 1904, G.V.R., 1st issue, silver, 1 clasp, Antarctic 1910-13 (209527 H. Dickason, A.B. Terra Nova); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (209527 Harry Dickason, P.O. H.M.S. Pembroke.) original mounting as worn, very fine or better and numismatically one of the most important Naval groups of the 20th Century (7) £50,000-£70,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Just 67 Bars to the D.S.M. were awarded in the Great War. D.S.M. London Gazette 19 November 1915: ‘The following awards have been approved.’ The recommendation states: ‘H.M.S. Baralong. Sinking of German submarine U41 24 September 1915.’ One of two D.S.M.s awarded for this action. D.S.M. Second Award Bar London Gazette 11 November 1919: ‘To receive a Bar to the Distinguished Service Medal.’ The recommendation states: ‘H.M.S. Kruger. Caspian Sea 1918-19. Brought to notice for the work done on behalf of the expedition.’ Harry Dickason was born in Bristol, Gloucestershire on 16 December 1884, and worked as a milk boy prior to entering the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in April 1900. Advanced to Able Seaman in June 1904, he was serving in the battleship H.M.S. Montague when she was wrecked on Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel on 30 May 1906. In the summer of 1909, Dickason applied for a place in Scott’s second Antarctic Expedition, a successful application that saw him joining the Terra Nova in May 1910. Having then shared in the trials and tribulations of the Terra Nova’s stormy passage south, he served in the Northern Party, a six-man team under Commander Victor Campbell, R.N., between January 1911 and January 1913, a period that witnessed great danger and hardship. In addition to himself and Campbell, the party comprised Surgeon G. Murray Levick, R.N., the geologist Raymond Priestley, and Petty Officers G. P. Abbott and F. V. Browning. Having spent the first 10 months of their northern sojourn at Cape Adare, where several journeys of exploration were carried out and extensive scientific observations taken, Campbell and his team were embarked in the Terra Nova in January 1912 and proceeded to Evans Cove in Terra Nova Bay, where it was intended they carry out a six week expedition. As a result of adverse ice conditions, however, the Terra Nova was unable to come and pick them up, and Campbell and his men were left stranded, with few provisions, and the daunting prospect of the imminent arrival of the Polar winter: what followed over the next nine months was a story of endurance and courage rarely matched in the annals of exploration. Wearing summer clothing, and equipped with light tents, it was quickly apparent that if they were to survive more substantial shelter was required. To that end, the six-man team constructed a giant snow cave (or igloo), from which they rarely ventured, other than to hunt for seal and penguin. In company with Petty Officer Browning, Dickason designed a “blubber lamp”, without which the interior of the ice cave would have remained pitch black in the winter months; the lamp comprised a strand of rope suspended from a “bridge” across the top of a small Oxo tin filled with melted blubber. As recounted by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, in Worst Journey in the World, blubber was very much the Northern Party’s order of the day: ‘They ate blubber, cooked with blubber, had blubber lamps. Their clothes and gear were soaked with blubber, and the soot blackened them, their sleeping-bags, cookers, walls and roof, choked their throats and inflamed their eyes. Blubbery clothes are cold, and theirs were soon so torn as to afford little protection against the wind, and so stiff with blubber that they would stand up by themselves, in spite of frequent scrapings with knives and rubbings with penguin skins, and always there were underfoot the great granite boulders which made walking difficult even in daylight and calm weather … ’ Severe privations were suffered by all, Campbell recording in his journal cases of frostbite and dysentery, and ongoing hunger, the whole compounded by the low temperatures and extreme winds. Dickason was, at one stage or another, laid low by all these factors, in addition to suffering from snow blindness. In early August the sun returned, and the party prepared the sledges for the return to Cape Evans. Setting off on 30 September 1912, they reached Cape Roberts four weeks later, having in the interim come upon the welcome contents of an old depot left by Shackleton’s 1907-09 Nimrod expedition. In fact, they discovered yet further supplies at Cape Bernacchi and at Butter Point, discoveries that enabled their safe return to Hut Point on 6 November, but, here, of course, they learnt of the tragic fate of Scott and his party. A full account of the party’s experiences is to be found in team member Raymond Priestley’s Antarctic Adventure, Scott’s Northern Party, in addition to the aforementioned diary kept by Victor Campbell, which was published in Scott’s Last Expedition (Volume II). In his diary, Campbell makes frequent mention of Dickason, often in glowing terms. For his services to the expedition, he was advanced to Petty Officer and received his award of the Polar Medal from the King on 26 July 1913. Moreover, Mount Dickason, at the head of Boomerang Glacier in Victoria Land, is named after him. Dickason was serving ashore at Pembroke I on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, but, in typical fashion, he sought further adventure by volunteering for Q-ships in January 1915. Shortly afterwards he joined the Antwerp, the ex-G.E.R. passenger steamer Vienna, and only the second Q-ship to be commissioned by the Admiralty. He subsequently participated in the first Q-ship/U-boat encounter of the war, when, in March 1915, Antwerp went to the rescue of three merchantmen which had been sunk by the U-29. Although a bloodless encounter, it did persuade the Admiralty that smaller, less well-known ships were required if German U-boat commanders were going to be tempted into action. Accordingly, the Antwerp was relegated to transport duties and her guns transferred to the newly acquired tramp steamer Baralong. And with those guns went Dickason, who would shortly witness the destruction of two U-boats and the demise of half a dozen enemy submariners in circumstances that would attract allegations of war crimes. By the Spring of 1915, Baralong had been fitted out with three concealed 12-pounder guns, and one of her first notable acts was to race to the scene of the sinking of the L...

The extremely rare post-war Palestine M.M. group of eight awarded to Colour-Sergeant D. R. Earp, 40 Commando, Royal Marines Military Medal, G.VI.R. (CH/X. 4368 A/Cpl. D. R. Earp. R.M.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Naval General Service 1915-62, 3 clasps, Palestine 1945-48, Malaya, Brunei (CH/X. 4368 D. R. Earp. A/Cpl. R.M.); Korea 1950-53, 1st issue (CH/X. 4368 D. R. Earp, M.M. A/Sgt. R.M.); U.N. Korea 1950-54; General Service 1962-2007, 1 clasp, Borneo (CH/X. 4368 D. R. Earp. M.M. Clr/Sgt. R.M.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., E.II.R., 2nd issue (CH/X. 4368 D. R. Earp. M.M. Sgt. R.M.) mounted as worn, light contact marks, otherwise good very fine (8) £12,000-£15,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- One of only seven M.M.’s awarded for Palestine 1945-48, including two to 40 Commando R.M., the other award being won during the same incident. M.M. London Gazette 7 January 1949: ‘In recognition of gallant conduct during recent operations in Palestine.’ The original recommendation states: ‘On 21 April 1948, ‘B’ Troop 40 Commando R.M., was holding positions to the North side of Kingsway, Haifa. I.Z.L. [Irgun Zeva’I Leu’mi – ‘The National Military Organization’] were known to be holding positions to their right. Corporal Earp was N.C.O. in charge of a Bren Group on the roof of No. 29 Kingsway. At about 1500 hrs he saw his officer, Lieutenant Seed, R.M., who was moving across a flat roof towards him wounded in the back and head by L.M.G. fire coming from the I.Z.L. positions. Corporal Earp immediately decided to take action, and at great risk to himself ran across the open roof under fire, and rescued his officer. He remained extremely cool and carried out a careful observation in order to locate the L.M.G. which was firing at them. Having located the L.M.G. he decided that he could not deal with it adequately from his present position. He therefore took his own Bren Gun and proceeded up Elijah street on the opposite side of Kingsway. There was considerable firing going on at the time and this was known to be a dangerous area containing a number of Jewish and Arab posts. At this stage he was joined by Corporal P. E. G. Pollard, R.M., also of ‘B’ Troop. At the top of the street he forced an entrance into a hotel and proceeded at once to the top floor, spotted the L.M.G. post and engaged it with fire. The Jewish Bren Gunner was killed instantly, rolled over and fell from the position. His number two was also hit, rolled over and lay still. Corporal Earp was then fired on from another position. He and Corporal Pollard at once moved down one floor, took up position in another window and shot the other sniper. Both Corporals, having eliminated the two sniper posts, then returned to their Troop positions and carried on with their normal duties. Throughout this action Corporal Earp acted without waiting for orders entirely on his own initiative, and at very great risk to himself. His display of offensive spirit and courage was exemplary.’ Dennis Roland Earp was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire on 15 February 1926 and died in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in February 1988. Sold with copied recommendation.

The exceptional Second War D-Day Immediate D.S.M. group of five awarded to Stoker 1st Class W. G. Ingram, Royal Navy, who was decorated for his services in L.C.A. 722, which was damaged by enemy fire when landing U.S. Rangers on Pointe Du Hoc, four miles west of Omaha Beach, where the Rangers were tasked with destroying a German coastal battery of six 155mm. howitzers Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (Sto. 1 W. G. Ingram. P/KX.179183)officially engraved naming; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45, mounted as worn, good very fine (5) £2,400-£2,800 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Noble Auctions, Sydney, April 2005. D.S.M. London Gazette 28 November 1944: ‘For gallantry, skill, determination and undaunted devotion to duty during the landing of Allied Forces on the coast of Normandy.’ The original recommendation states: ‘He showed conspicuous skill and courage when his craft L.C.A. 722 was damaged by enemy action whilst under machine gunfire. Ingram made great efforts to repair his craft’s engines; although unsuccessful, his devotion to duty was a great example.’ Remarks of Intermediate Authority: ‘This rating had a very difficult task whilst landing U.S. Rangers on Pointe du Hoc.’ Walter Gordon Ingram, who was from Wandsworth, London, was embarked in H.M.S. Ben My Chree on the eve of Operation ‘Neptune’. An ex-Isle of Man ferry of 2,586 tons, which had been converted for use as a Landing Ship Infantry (Heavy), she was charged with transporting three companies of the 2nd U.S. Ranger Battalion to Normandy on D-Day. Thence disembarked to smaller assault landing craft, including L.C.A. 722 with Ingram, the Rangers arrived, under fire, at Pointe du Hoc in the Omaha Beach area, where they were assigned the unenvious mission of capturing the enemy positions on the high cliffs above. A glimpse of L.C.A. 722 and her occupants in action is to be found in the records of the 2nd Ranger Battalion’s assault on Pointe du Hoc: ‘Twenty yards left of Colonel Rudder’s craft, L.C.A. 722 hit shore with IS Company, E Rangers, five Headquarters’ men, a Stars and Stripes photographer, and a Commando officer who had assisted the Rangers in training. Touchdown was made at the edge of a crater, and the men could not avoid it in debarking. Enemy grenades were ineffectual, and the craters and debris on the beach gave sufficient cover from enfilading fire from the left. The only casualty was Pfc. John J. Sillman, wounded three times as the craft came in, hit twice on the beach, and destined to survive. A good deal of assorted equipment came on this craft, including the S.C.R. 284, two pigeons, a 60mm. mortar with ammunition, and some demolitions. All were got ashore without loss, though it took manoeuvring to avoid the deep water in the crater. Tech. 4 C. S. Parker and two other communications men hefted the big radio set on a pack board, and managed to get it in and working before the first climbers from 722 reached the top. The rockets had been fired just before landing. One ladder and one plain rope got up and held (L.C.A. 722 had experienced no trouble with water, and the ropes were comparatively dry). The single rope lay in a slight crevice, but the ladder came down on an overhang where it seemed exposed to the flanking fire and would be hard to climb. Tech. 5 Edward P. Smith tried the plain rope and found he could easily ‘walk it up.’ On top, three or four minutes after landing, he saw a group of Germans to his right throwing grenades over the cliff. Sgt. Hayward A. Robey joined Smith with a BAR. Robey lay in a shallow niche at the cliff edge and sprayed the grenadiers with 40 or 50 rounds fast fire. Three of the enemy dropped and the rest disappeared into shelters. Pfc. Frank H. Petersen, lightly wounded on the beach by a grenade, joined up and the three Rangers went off on their mission without waiting for the climbers. The mortar section in this boat team remained below, according to plan, with the purpose of setting up their 60mm. on the beach to deliver supporting fire. But the beach was too exposed to make this practicable, and time was consumed in getting ammunition from the one surviving supply craft. About 0745 the mortar team went on top without having yet fired … ’ Subsequently, in one of the most famous episodes of the landings, with covering fire from the destroyers H.M.S. Talybont and U.S.S. Satterlee, three companies of Rangers stormed the enemy’s battery positions and eliminated the remaining garrison. Thereafter, they maintained their position throughout the day. Sold with copied research.

The Naval General Service medal awarded to Commander William Edwards, Royal Navy, for his services as a Midshipman aboard the Defiance at Copenhagen in April 1801 Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Copenhagen 1801 (William Edwards, Midshipman.) good very fine £4,000-£5,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Spink, July 2005. William Edwards was born on 30 October 1781, and entered the Navy on 21 January 1796, as an Ordinary Seaman on board the Atlas 98, stationed in the Channel, where he speedily attained the rating Midshipman. Soon after his removal to the F+Defiance 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Thomas Graves, he witnessed Lord Keith’s capture on 19 June 1799, of three frigates and two brigs under Rear-Admiral Perrée. He fought in the same ship at the battle off Copenhagen on 2 April 1801, and afterwards served aboard the Dreadnought 98, the Dryad 36, and the Prince of Wales 98, flag-ship of Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Calder, under whom he bore a part in the action of 22 July 1805. Attaining the rank of Lieutenant, 15 August 1806, he was next appointed to the Agamemnon 64, and, in command of a party of seamen belonging to that ship, he joined the naval brigade employed at the siege of Copenhagen in September 1807. He afterwards saw service off the coast of Brazil, and in the Downs, and transferred to the Impress service at Waterford in 1813. In January he was appointed to the Command of the Lynx Revenue-cutter, and was placed on half-pay in 1821. He was appointed Retired Commander on 16 January 1840, and died in 1859 or 1860.

The outstanding Great War Royal Naval Division D.S.O. group of four awarded to Commander C. S. West, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, who first saw action in Hawke Battalion at the defence of Antwerp in October 1914, prior to escaping in disguise from internment in Holland. He subsequently served as second-in-command of Collingwood Battalion in Gallipoli, where he was severely wounded at Krithia in June 1915, and as C.O. of Howe Battalion on the Western Front, where he was killed in action at Welsh Ridge in December 1917 Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamels, with integral top ribbon bar; 1914 Star, with clasp (Lieut. C. S. West, R.N.V.R. Hawke Btn. R.N.D.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Lieut. C. S. West, R.N.V.R. Hawke Btn. R.N.D.) together with Memorial Plaque (Charles Skeffington West, mounted court-style for display, extremely fine (5) £4,000-£5,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Spink, November 2010. D.S.O. London Gazette 17 April 1917: ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He rendered invaluable service by most ably guiding and placing companies of the battalion in their battle positions within 400 yards of the enemy. He worked continuously under heavy hostile shell fire, and was largely responsible for the success of the operations.’ Charles Skeffington West was born at Temple Mead Rectory, Longford, Ireland on 22 April 1886, the son of a clergyman and a cousin of Lieutenant-Colonel R. A. West, V.C., D.S.O., M.C. Having attended St. Clare School, Walmer, young Charles entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet in Britannia in January 1901 and served as a Midshipman on the China Station, prior to being invalided ashore as a Sub. Lieutenant in January 1905. He subsequently attended Trinity College, Cambridge. Commissioned as a temporary Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he was quickly drafted to Hawke Battalion in the Royal Naval Division and embarked for Dunkirk as part of the 1st R.N. Brigade in early October. Having then taken part in the defence of Antwerp and been interned in Holland, ‘he, with two others, succeeded in escaping in disguise, thus avoiding having to give parole, May 1915.’ (The Distinguished Service Order 1886-1923, refers). Advanced to Lieutenant-Commander, West was next appointed 2nd-in-command of Collingwood Battalion, in which capacity he landed in Gallipoli at the end of May 1915. A few days later, the battalion was assigned to the third allied attack on Krithia, a costly action in which West was wounded on 4 June 1915 and his unit all but wiped out: of 70 officers and 1,900 ratings of the Naval Division who went into action that day, just five officers and 950 men returned to our lines. Following medical treatment at Alexandria, West returned to the peninsula as second-in-command of Howe Battalion, his old battalion having been temporarily disbanded on account of casualties. And he remained likewise employed until the evacuation of Gallipoli in January 1916. Howe Battalion was next embarked for France, where, in October 1916, it was deployed to the Somme, in readiness for the battle of the Ancre, in which the Naval Division’s objective was to be Beaucourt. On the morning of 13 November 1916, West’s Howe Battalion, as a part of a combined force, advanced behind the creeping barrage of the attack and successfully pressed home it’s objectives, including the German front line system. Beaucourt itself was secured on the following day, in an action in which Lieutenant-Colonel B. Freyberg of Hood Battalion won the Victoria Cross, but on ‘marching out’ of the front line, Howe Battalion mustered less than 100 men. The Naval Division was withdrawn from the battle area for two months’ rest. On returning to the front in January 1917, West and his comrades in Howe Battalion were quickly back in action, advancing on Grandcourt and spearheading the attack on Miraumont on 17-18 February, the latter being described as ‘brilliantly successful’ and resulting in West’s award of the D.S.O. But greater challenges lay ahead, not least the Naval Division’s costly part in the first battle of Gavrelle in April 1917, when it suffered losses of 170 officers and 3,624 ratings killed or wounded. One of the resultant casualties was the C.O. of Howe Battalion, who was invalided home in May 1917, and West now assumed command of the Battalion. A period of consolidation ensued, punctuated by occasional forays across No Man’s Land, a case in point being a successful night raid carried out by Howe Battalion against Gavrelle Trench on 20 July 1917: ‘The enemy losses in killed and prisoners alone exceeded our total casualties. The raid had found the enemy generally listless and ill-prepared. Their trenches were ill-constructed and badly tended, while many of the garrison were caught without arms or equipment.’ (The Royal Naval Division, by Douglas Jerrold, refers). At the end of September, the Naval Division was drafted in to participate in the much-delayed Flanders offensive, the main objective of which was Passchendaele ridge. And on 26 October 1917, as part of the 2nd Battle of Passchendaele, West’s battalion was detailed to attack towards Poelcappelle, an attack undertaken in terrible mud. Resultant casualties were high. Having then been rested, Howe Battalion rejoined the Naval Division on the Cambrai front in early December, moving into positions on Welsh Ridge. And it was here, in a major German counter-attack on the 30th, that West was killed: ‘ … on the Howe front, through no fault of the men on the spot, the situation was more serious. Simultaneously with the loss of the front line, a shell falling outside Battalion H.Q. had killed, Commander West and Lieutenant-Commander Alan Campbell … The deaths, moreover, of Commander West, of Patrick Shaw Stewart and of Alan Campbell, were in the nature of a grievous personal loss to innumerable officers and men of the Division. They had all served with the Division in the earliest Gallipoli days, and had each contributed much to its reputation, not only as a fighting organization but as the gathering place of so many men who were at once remarkably good company and of brilliant attainments … Commander West and Alan Campbell were killed by a shell falling at the entrance of their headquarters as they too were moving up to their front line.’ (ibid). West was buried in the British Extension of Metz-en-Couture Communal Cemetery. Sold with the recipient’s original M.I.D. certificate, dated 9 April 1917, in its original forwarding envelope addressed to ‘Mrs. West, Staverton, Wokingham, Berks.’

The rare Great War M.M. battle of the Somme ‘Logeast Wood’ group of three awarded to Lieutenant H. H. Jarman, Royal Marine Artillery Military Medal, G.V.R. (RMA-937 (S) Gnr: H. H. Jarman. Howe: Bde: R.M.A.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. H. H. Jarman. R.M.A.) good very fine (3) £700-£900 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Spink, April 2000. M.M. London Gazette 21 September 1916. Herbert Henry Jarman was born at Toxteth, Liverpool on 14 November 1891, and joined the Royal Marine Artillery in May 1915. Embarked for France for service in the R.M.A.’s Howitzer Brigade in May 1916, he quickly saw action on the Somme, and was awarded his M.M. in respect of his gallantry at Logeast Wood, while acting in support of Howe Battalion, Royal Naval Division. Summoned home to attend an officers’ training course at Eastney in January 1917, he was granted the temporary rank of Lieutenant and returned to France in November of the same year, when he rejoined the Howitzer Brigade. Jarman remained on active service until the war’s end and was demobilised in February 1919. He died in Liverpool in February 1965.