British War Medal 1914-20 (3) (M.33173 W. E. Heydon. 2 Ck. Mte. R.N.; Po.12685 Pte. F. H. H....

British War Medal 1914-20 (3) (M.33173 W. E. Heydon. 2 Ck. Mte. R.N.; Po.12685 Pte. F. H. H. Gower. R.M.L.I.; F.36828 J. Riley. Act. A.M.1. R.N.A.S.) good very fine (3) £80-£100 --- Walter Edward Heydon was born in Deptford, London, on 7 July 1900 and joined the Royal Navy for hostilities only on 25 July 1918, serving for the entirety of the War in H.M.S. Pembroke I (and therefore presumably not entitled to a Victory Medal). He was shore demobilised on 28 June 1919. Frank Henry Herbert Gower serves with the Royal Marine Light Infantry during the Great War in the armoured cruiser H.M.S. Good Hope and was killed in action serving in her at the Battle of Coronel on 1 November 1914. Early in August 1914, a force - consisting of the old armoured cruisers Good Hope and Monmouth, the light cruiser Glasgow and the armed merchant cruiser Otranto, all under the command of Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock, R.N. - was sent to protect the southern trade routes and to intercept German cruisers operating on the high seas. In October 1914 the squadron was reinforced by the addition of the old battleship Canopus, but reports of the ship’s lack of speed led the admiral to leave her behind as he searched for the German East Asiatic Squadron. The German squadron, commanded by Admiral Graf von Spee, consisted of the armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the light cruisers Leipzig, Nurnberg and Dresden. Both admirals became aware of the proximity of the other on 31 October. At 6.40 p.m. on 1 November the squadrons made contact off Coronel, Chile and at 7.04 p.m. the battle opened at a range of 11,500 yards. As the German ships had a greater number of heavier guns, Cradock’s tactics were to close the range to allow his ships’ more numerous smaller calibre guns to come into play; this however was partly negated by the rough seas and high speeds which prevented many of the British armoured cruisers’ casement guns being brought into action. The British armoured cruisers were repeatedly hit as the range was reduced. As the range reduced to 5,500 yards, the Good Hope was on fire in several places and in a bad way. Endeavouring to reduce the range even further, so as to be able to fire torpedoes in a last ditch attempt to do damage to his adversary, the ship was repeatedly hit by heavy calibre shells and at 7.53 Good Hope blew up, taking the Admiral and all hands with her. At about 9.30 the Monmouth too was hunted down and sunk; the Glasgow and Otranto were able to make their escape under the cover of darkness. Gower is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. Sold with a postcard of H.M.S. Good Hope. John Riley was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, on 20 February 1890 and joined the Royal Naval Air Service for hostilities only on 31 August 1917. He transferred to the Royal Air Force as Founder Member on 1 April 1918.