POMPIDOU GEORGES: (1911-1974) French Prime Minister 1962-68 and President of the French Republic 1969-74. T.L.S., `G Pompidou´, one page, 4to, Paris, 7th November 1972, on the President of the French Republic printed stationery, to Pierre Jean Jouve, in French. Pompidou thanks his correspondent for the copy of the publication he has received, stating `J´ai reçu le très remarquable numéro que l´Herne vous consacre et suis sensible au fait que vous ayez bien voulu me l´adresser vous-même, par l´intermédiaire de Napoléon Murat. Vous savez mon admiration pour votre poésie et pour votre action. C´est vous dire que je lirai avec une attentive sympathie tous ces textes rassemblée sur l´oeuvre et sur l´homme.´ (Translation: "I received the very remarkable publication that Herne dedicates to you and am touched by the fact that you were kind enough to send it to me yourself, through Napoleon Murat. You know my admiration for your poetry and for your action. This is to say to you that I will read with attentive interest all these texts gathered on the work and on the man.") Paper with an attractive Marais watermark. Accompanied by the original envelope, typed addressed, on the President of the Republic printed stationery. VGPierre Jean Jouve (1887-1976) French Writer, Novelist and Poet. Jouve was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. In 1966 he was awarded the "Grand Prix de Poésie" by the French Academy. L'Herne is a French independent publishing house, known worldwide for its collection Cahiers de L'Herne.Napoleon Murat (1925-1998) Prince Murat. French film Producer and Actor.
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BERTHOLLET CLAUDE LOUIS: (1748-1822) French chemist, the first to demonstrate the bleaching action of chlorine gas, and the first to develop a solution of sodium hypochlorite as a modern bleaching agent. A.L.S., Berthollet, one page, 4to, n.p., 28th May 1808, to [the Minister of War], in French. Berthollet submits a petition for a three-month leave of absence, writing ´Le petitionnaire est un brave homme et toute sa famille est digne d´interet. Si votre Excellence peut accorder la grace que demandent les bonnes gens et qui est importante pour leurs affaires, je lui en aurai beaucoup d´obligation´ (Translation: ´The petitioner is a good man and his entire family is worthy of interest. If your Excellency can grant the grace that good people ask for and which is important for their affairs, I will be very much obliged to you´). Some very light, minor foxing to the edges, VG
Two Vintage Action Man Palitoy Soldiers of the World German Stormtrooper Accessory Cards, circa 1970, German Stormtrooper uniform, cat no 34252 contents Jacket, trousers, (missing one boot and helmet) and German Stormtrooper Equipment cat no 34247 contents field pack, grenades, Luger pistol & holster, cartridge belt, 9mm Schmeisser and Iron cross medal, all in mint original condition, cards are in fair to good condition. (2 items)
Palitoy Action Man Turbo-Copter, circa 1970, Cat No. 34246 with realistic working rotor, plus four Action Man small arms sets Cat no.34266 and Action Man Patrol adventure kit for boys water bottle with drinking cup, cat No.35111, all in mint sealed condition ( one 34266 opened) header cards are fair to good. (6 items)
Four Vintage Action Man Palitoy Emergency Carded Sets, Fire fighter, cat no.34514 contents: Fire fighter back pack, large axe, Fire fighter, cat no.34515 contents: Jacket, trousers & boots, Fire crash crew cat no.34524 contents: Jacket, trousers & boots and Underground rescue cat no.34525 contents: Overalls, boots & helmet, all in mint condition, cards are fair to good. (4 items)
Three Vintage Action Man Palitoy Soldiers of the World Accessory Cards, cat no 34251 contents flame thrower, machete sheath, Sterling machine gun, missing ammo belt, Rifle Rack, collapsible rifle rack, with M16, M1 rifle and carbine (missing grenade launcher and Bunk Bed, canvas bunk bed with leaflet, missing one pole, all in fair to good condition. ( 3 items)
Vintage Action Man Palitoy Deep Sea Diver with Killer Shark, Catalogue No. 34504, circa 1972, contents: now with killer shark, white fabric suit, diving helmet, weighted boots and belt, gloves, hammer, buoy, compass, knife and scabbard, rope, oxygen pump, and hose, mint on sealed card, some of the contents have moved, card is in very good to excellent original condition, some age wear, tear to bottom right hand corner.
Vintage Action Man Palitoy The Royal Marines Mountain and Artic uniform, Famous British Uniforms, Catalogue No. 34130, 2nd issue, circa 1972, contents: Cap, jacket, trousers, boots, belt, pouches, gloves, goggles, skis, ski poles, SLR rifle, bayonet and scabbard, uniform has some staining, on sealed card, original Union Jack box is very good to excellent.
A Quantity of 1960s Vintage Action Man, including dolls, uniforms & accessories, four painted head dolls, two dolls have some cracks to joints, complete Astronauts uniform, German stormtrooper, with medal, missing Schmeiser and field pack, Deep sea diver, Navy frogman, missing rubber suit, part Red Devil, accessories from combat soldier, Ski patrol missing helmet, mine detection set, MP tunic, armband, truncheon, red scarf, Medic parts, bazooka, 81mm Mortar, Landing signal officer, Breeches boy, pulley broken, parts from scramble pilot, Australian jungle fighter, missing boots, plus other accessories, including a small quantity of Tommy Gun, in fair to good used condition. (A.Lot)
Scarce Vintage Action Man Palitoy The Life Guards Famous British Uniforms, Catalogue No. 34149, circa 1970, contents: tunic, breeches, gauntlets, jackboots, helmet, waist & shoulder belt, cartouche, spurs, sword and scabbard, uniforms appears mint on sealed card, some of the contents have moved, original box is very good, some age wear, creases/veining to back of card, some slight felt pen to front of cellophane.
Vintage Action Man Palitoy Royal Military Police Famous British Uniforms, Catalogue No. 34138, 2nd issue, circa 1972, contents: Red cap, jacket, shirt, tie, trousers, boots, khaki belt, MP armband, billy club, Stirling sub-machine gun, uniforms appears mint on sealed card, original Union Jack box is excellent.
Two Vintage Action Man Palitoy Soldiers of the World British Infantryman Accessory Cards, circa 1970, Infantryman uniform, sealed, cat no 34254 contents: helmet, battle-dress, trousers, boots, gaiters, belt and Infantryman Equipment, opened, gas mask, case, canteen cover (missing canteen) Sten sub machine gun, with clip and Victoria cross medal, all in mint original condition, cards are in good condition. (2 items)
Vintage Action Man Palitoy Frogman Catalogue No. 34502, contents: 3 piece orange rubber suit, swim fins, face mask, air cylinders, depth gauge, dynamite, knife, scabbard, in near mint, on sealed card, original illustrated card box is very good excellent, tiny tab missing on top right hand corner of box.
Four Vintage Action Man Palitoy Emergency Carded Sets, Highway Hazard cat No. 34511 contents: jumpsuit, waistcoat, High Rescue, contents: jumpsuit & helmet, Fire Crash Crew, cat no. 34523 contents: helmet, gas mask bolt cutters and Fire Crash Crew, cat no. 34522 contents: Fire extinguisher, tool belt & tools, all in mint sealed condition, cards are fair to good. (4 items)
A Quantity of 1970s Vintage Action Man, including dolls, uniforms & accessories, German Escape from Colditz camp commandant with Schmeiser (missing baton), Royal Military Police, early issue, complete with leaflet, some fading to uniform, one gripping hand missing on doll, uniforms: The Royal marines No.3, cap, jacket, trousers, boots, belt & rubber frog, missing badge on hat, SLR rifle, bayonet & scabbard, Blues & Royals, tunic, breaches, boots, plumed helmet (broken) gauntlets, cartouche, sword with scabbard, spurs (one broken) leaflet, missing waist & shoulder belt, sword knot, Underwater explorer, with leaflet, missing rubber jacket, Jungle explorer, jacket, & trousers, boots, belt, machete and sheaf, jungle knife, hat,rifle with telescope & shoulder bag (missing darts) German stormtrooper jacket, trousers & boots, Red Devil Parachutist,with leaflet, missing helmet & goggles, Deep sea diver, not complete, Russian DEGTYAREV machine gun, with tripod & ammo casebunk bed, 81 mm mortar complete with leaflet, special ops kit bag, with leaflet, not complete, bazooka with missile plus other accessories, all in fair to very good used condition. (A.Lot)
Pair: Private W. Jenkinson, Yorkshire Regiment, who was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916; on this date temporary Major S. W. Loudoun-Shand, of the same battalion, was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross British War and Victory Medals (19119 Pte. W. Jenkinson. York. R.) good very fine (2) £180-£220 --- Wilfred Jenkinson was born in York on 26 April 1893, and attested for the Yorkshire Regiment at Leeds. He served with the 10th Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front, and was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916. On this date, the battalion was involved in support of the main attack at Fricourt; it was here that temporary Major S. W. Loudoun-Shand, leading ‘B’ Company, and seeing that his men were experiencing difficulty in leaving their trenches, immediately leapt onto the parapet and assisted them over the top. In the face of enemy machine gun fire the officer helped and encourage his man but soon fell mortally wounded. For his conspicuous bravery and leadership, he was awarded the Victoria Cross. Jenkinson was amongst those killed; he has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France. Sold with copied research.
A Great War D.S.O. group of three awarded to Lieutenant J. Martin, Royal Naval Reserve and Mercantile Marine, who was decorated and commissioned for his zeal and devotion to duty on the occasion that the lightly armed merchantman Caspian was attacked and sunk by the German submarine U-34 in May 1917; the Captain having being killed, he took charge, only abandoning the ship after 23 of her crew were dead and all ammunition was spent - he later commanded the Q-ships Dargle and Fresh Hope 1917-18 Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar; British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. J. Martin, R.N.R.) good very fine (3) £1,000-£1,400 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- D.S.O. London Gazette 19 December 1917: ‘In recognition of zeal and devotion to duty shown in carrying on the trade of the country during the War.’ James Martin, a native of Sunderland, was born in 1847 and was granted a temporary commission as a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve on 10 August 1915, aged 68. He was given command of the Admiralty trawler Filey from 30 August, armed with one 12 pounder gun. The following year he was discharged from the Royal Naval Reserve and had his commission cancelled due to misconduct in being drunk on board his ship on 20 January 1916. However, finding employment as Chief Officer of the lightly armed merchantman S.S. Caspian of the Mercantile Marine, Martin was to be redeemed by his actions the following year when on 20 May 1917, the highly successful German submarine U-34 attacked the S.S. Caspian 3.5 miles off Alicante. During an action lasting over two hours, in which the Master, Arthur Douse, and 23 members of the crew were killed, Martin was left in charge of the Caspian and only after all the ammunition was used, the surviving crew members took to the boats. The U-boat then took just three prisoners aboard (the Chief Engineer, 2nd Officer and a gunner) and then proceeded to torpedo and sink the Caspian. Chief Officer Martin was awarded the D.S.O. for his zeal and devotion to duty on this occasion and gazetted a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve once more, later receiving his award at the hands of the King at Buckingham Palace on 11 September 1918. He was 70 years old at the time of the action and was stated at the time to be the oldest man ever to have won the decoration. Three other crew members received the D.S.C. Martin’s re-appointment as Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve was dated 19 May 1917 and he was given command of the Q-ship Dargle in the following month, a topsail schooner fitted out with a 4-inch and two 12-pounders. Operating out of Lerwick, she certainly had a number of encounters with enemy submarines. In a lengthy patrol report sent to the Admiral Commanding, Orkney and Shetland, on 16 August 1917, Martin expressed his doubts about the Dargle’s suitability for Q-ship operations: ‘It is my opinion that this vessel owing to her uncommon build is marked and suspected by enemy submarines of being armed. Three times in my experience submarines have been in the vicinity and no attempt made to attack us has been made until we had a torpedo fired at us. As a decoy ship she is a failure, and I should recommend her being handed back to her owners, and the guns, engines and material being taken out of her and fitted in a vessel more serviceable.’ Martin’s report swiftly invoked the Admiral Commanding to send a scathing report to the C.-in-C. Grand Fleet: ‘I consider that the present Commanding Officer of the Special Service Vessel Dargle is not suitable for appointment in command of a Special Service Vessel. Lieutenant J. Martin, R.N.R., is of an excitable temperament which is most undesirable. At various interviews he has not impressed me or members of my staff as being a suitable officer for his present command. He is constantly using his motors and does not appear to realise the importance of making his vessel look like a peaceful merchant ship, as will be seen from the letter of the Rear-Admiral, Stornaway ... I am therefore desirous of giving her another trial under a new Commanding Officer and submit that Lieutenant Martin may be relieved.’ As a result, according to Carson Ritchie’s Q-Ships: ‘Martin resigned from his command on the grounds of ill-health, but Captain James Startin, Senior Naval Officer, Granton, who felt that he was a very capable officer, but ‘certainly difficult as regards naval etiquette and discipline’, had him transferred to another vessel. A year later, as commander of the Fresh Hope, another sailing Q-ship, Martin justified this good opinion by bringing the fore-and-aft schooner into an encounter with a U-boat on which he scored four direct hits.’ Lieutenant Martin was placed on the retired list on 28 June 1920 and died in 1929 aged 82. Sold with copied research and medal roll extracts, that shows that the recipient additionally received the 1914-15 Star. Another Lieutenant J. Martin (John Martin) is also on the medal roll of the Royal Naval Reserve, also entitled to a 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, and Victory Medal.
A Great War ‘Western Front’ D.C.M. group of four awarded to Corporal R. J. Lloyd, Shropshire Light Infantry, who was killed in action on 18 April 1917 Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (9718 Cpl. R. J. Lloyd. 1/Shrops: L.I.); 1914 Star (9718 Pte. R. J. Lloyd. 1/Shrops: L.I.); British War and Victory Medals (9718 Cpl. R. J. Lloyd. Shrops. L.I.); Memorial Plaque (Richard James Lloyd) slight edge dig to first, otherwise very fine (5) £900-£1,200 --- D.C.M. London Gazette 14 November 1916. ‘For conspicuous gallantry and presence of mind. When distributing bombs prior to attack a fuzed bomb without a safety pin commenced to burn, and the man holding the bomb dropped it. Cpl. Lloyd, grasping the situation, ordered the men under cover, picked up the bomb, and threw it away. It exploded almost as it left his hand. His prompt courage undoubtedly saved many lives.’ Richard James Lloyd, from Dolgelley, Merioneth, living in Betton Strange, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, attested into the Shropshire Light Infantry and served during the Great War with the 1st Battalion on the Western Front from 10 September 1914. Advanced Lance Sergeant, he was killed in action on 18 April 1917 and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial, France. Sold with copied Medal Index Card and copied research.
Three: Able Seaman A. Harris, Royal Navy, who was killed in action when H.M.S. Daring was torpedoed by the German submarine U-23, under the command of the ‘Wolf of the Atlantic’ Otto Ktretschmer, and sank off Duncansby Head, 18 February 1940 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45, with named Admiralty enclosure, in card box of issue, addressed to ‘Mr. J. T. Harris, 6 Collington Lane, Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex’, nearly extremely fine (3) £120-£160 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Albert Harris served during the Second World War as an Able Seaman in the D-class destroyer H.M.S. Daring, that had, for a time, been the first command of Lord Louis Mountbatten. On 18 February 1940 H.M.S. Daring was one of four destroyers escorting a convoy from the Norway campaign to the U.K. In the early hours of the morning the convoy was sighted by U-23, commanded by the man who would later become known as the ‘Wolf of the Atlantic’, Otto Ktretschmer. At a point some 30 miles East from Duncansby Head U-23 found herself trapped on the surface between the two port-side escorts of the convoy. In order to enable an escape Kretschmer decided to attack the stern destroyer, H.M.S. Daring. Two torpedoes were fired and Daring was hit; almost immediately later a secondary explosion ripped through the ship, broke her in half she sank within two minutes, with the loss of 157 Officers and crew. There were only 5 survivors. Harris was amongst those killed. He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. His medals were sent to his father Mr. J. T. Harris. Sold with a photographic image of the ship’s crew.
A Great War ‘Battle of Passchendaele’ M.M. group of nine awarded to Sergeant J. J. Cronje, 4th Regiment, South African Infantry, later South African Medical Corps, who was decorated for repeatedly hauling wounded men on his back and carrying them from the Menin Road to the comparative safety of Allied First Aid Posts and Casualty Clearing Stations Military Medal, G.V.R. (2290 Pte. J. J. Cronje. 4/S.A. Inf:); 1914-15 Star (Pte. J. J. Cronje 6th Infantry); British War and Bilingual Victory Medals (Pte. J. J. Cronje. 4th S.A.I.); 1939-45 Star (228144 J. J. Cronje) this privately engraved; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Africa Service Medal, the last four officially impressed ‘228144 J. J. Cronje’, mounted as worn, suspension slack on BWM, nearly very fine and better (9) £360-£440 --- M.M. London Gazette 14 January 1918. The original recommendation - initially for a D.C.M. - states: ‘This man who was a Company stretcher bearer showed great gallantry and devotion to duty during the operations at Ypres on 20 September 1917. Whilst acting as one of a party of stretcher bearers, he continued to carry wounded men to safety on his back under heavy shell fire, after the remaining members of the party were either killed or wounded.’ John Cronje, a blacksmith, was born in Riversdale, South Africa, on 9 September 1894, and attested for the 1st South African Infantry on 14 August 1915. Posted to the Western Front with “K” Company, 4th S.A.I., his papers record that he was wounded in action on 28 February 1917, 18 April 1917 and 24 March 1918; the latter occasion is stated as a severe injury to the shoulder and left knee, received in the opening days of the German Spring Offensive - possibly at Marrieres Wood. Invalided to England 30 March 1918, Cronje embarked home to South Africa per Cawdor Castle and was demobilised at Maitland 24 May 1919. He later returned to service at Kimberley with the South African Medical Corps from 24 December 1941. Appointed Corporal in June 1942 and Sergeant in October 1944, he witnessed extensive service as a male nurse in Italy and North West Europe; he was demobilised in March 1946, his character rated as ‘exemplary’. Sold with copied service records for both campaigns; with private research detailing the names of 4 comrades recommended for the M.M. alongside Cronje, all members of “D” Company, 4th S.A.I.
A scarce M.S.M. for gallantry awarded to Acting Company Sergeant Major J. S. Holborn, M.M., 4th Regiment, South African Infantry, who was twice decorated for initiative and courage and was later killed in action during the German Spring Offensive on 17 April 1918 Army Meritorious Service Medal, G.V.R., 1st issue (X15 A.Cpl. J. S. Holborn. 4/S.A. Inf:) traces of adhesive to reverse, minor edge bruise, nearly extremely fine and scarce to unit £300-£400 --- M.M. London Gazette 9 July 1917. The original recommendation - initially for a D.C.M. - states: ‘In the operations on 9 April [1917] this Non Commissioned Officer was in charge of a platoon and displayed great initiative and courage. In the attack on the second objective he led a bombing attack against a portion of the enemy and dispersed them. In the operations of 12 April, he again led his platoon in a very gallant manner and by his courage act - a very splendid example to the men. In this attack he was wounded, but in the arm and the leg but refused to leave his post for nearly four hours after being wounded and until he had been assured that his platoon was in a secure position.’ M.S.M. London Gazette 9 March 1917. The original recommendation states: ‘For Gallantry in the Performance of Military Duty. During a course of instruction in live grenade throwing, an N.C.O. threw a live mills bomb which lodged in the parapet of the trench just above his head. L/Cpl. Holborn pushed the man aside and grasping the bomb threw it over the parapet, thus averting a most serious accident and probably saving several lives. Deed performed at Bordon, 23 July 1916.’ John Simpson Holborn, a boilermaker, was born in Gourock, Scotland, around 1876, and attested for the 4th South African Infantry at Bordon on 29 November 1915. Allocated the Regimental number ‘X15’ and attached to “K” Company, he disembarked at Rouen for the Western Front shortly after his M.S.M. winning exploits and was promoted Corporal in the trenches on 8 August 1916. Further promoted Sergeant 6 November 1916, his service records state that he survived the Battle of the Somme but was wounded in action on 12 April 1917, during the action for which he was awarded the Military Medal. Evacuated to Eastbourne suffering from a severe gunshot wound to the right hip, he returned to Belgium in March 1918 as Acting Company Sergeant Major. He was killed in action a short while later on 17 April 1918; he has no known grave and is commemorated upon the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium. Sold with copied service record and private research.
The 3-clasp Naval General Service medal awarded to John D. Lambeth for his services as Landsman on board the Namur on 4 November 1805, as Ordinary Seaman on board the Valiant at Basque Roads, and as Able Seaman in the boats of the same ship at the capture of two French brigs in September 1810 Naval General Service 1793-1840, 3 clasps, 4 Novr. 1805, Basque Roads 1809, 27 Sep Boat Service 1810 (Jno. D. Lambeth) the last four letters of surname corrected from ‘Lambert’, edge bruise and scratch to obverse, otherwise very fine £5,000-£7,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- 33 clasps issued for the Boat Service action on 27 September 1810. ‘On the night of September 27th, the boats of the Caledonia, one hundred-and-twenty, Captain Sir H. Neale, Valiant, seventy-four, Captain R. Oliver; and Armide, thirty-eight, Captain R. Dunn, lying in Basque Roads, were despatched under the orders of First Lieutenant Hamilton of the Caledonia, to take or destroy three brigs laden with Government stores, anchored under the protection of a strong battery at Pointe du Ché. As it was known that the enemy had strengthened the position with field pieces, and that a strong body of troops was assembled for the protection of the vessels, a party of one hundred and thirty marines, commanded by Captains T. Sherman and McLachlan, with Lieutenant Little, was added to the seamen from the three ships. At half-past two the marines were landed under Pointe du Ché, but the alarm was given by the brigs, and under a smart fire Lieutenant Little advanced, captured the battery and spiked the guns. In the meantime Captain Sherman took position on the main road, facing the village of Angoulin, supported by one of the launches with an eighteen-pounder carronade. The enemy advanced from the village and attacked him, but were driven back with loss. The French then made another attempt with a field piece, but were charged with the bayonet, put to flight, and the gun taken. While this was going on, the seamen had captured two of the brigs, and destroyed the other, and the party re-embarked without losing a man. Lieutenant Little and one man were wounded. The enemy left fourteen dead in the battery, but what loss they sustained from the fire of Captain Sherman's division and the launch could not be ascertained.’ (Medals of the British Navy by W. H. Long refers). John Lambeth/Lambert is confirmed on the rolls as Landsman aboard Namur at Strachan’s action on 4 November 1805, as Ordinary Seaman aboard the Valiant at Basque Roads, and as Able Seaman in the boats of the same ship the capture of two French brigs off Point du Ché, in the Basque Roads, by boats from Armide, Caledonia and Valiant. He is shown as Lambeth on all ship’s books but incorrectly as Lambert on the clasp application list for 4 November 1805, and as Lambeth on the clasp application lists for the two latter clasps. He consequently has two entries in the Colin Message roll who describes him as a ‘man of mystery’. Sold with copied muster lists and some professional research.
![‘For most conspicuous gallantry. Lieutenant Dean handled his boat [M.L. 282] in a most magnificent and heroic manner when emb](https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/c6bce30b-6e8a-4eb6-858d-b2820100be6a/5317377f-ef84-4dcb-b9a5-b282010139f3/468x382.jpg)
‘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 Royal Navy L.S. & G.C. medal awarded to William Leonard, Captain of the Forecastle, H.M. Sloop Orestes, in 1836 after 24 years’ service Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., Anchor obverse (Wm. Leonard, Captain of Forecastle, H.M. Sloop Orestes, 24 Years) with old ring and loop/bar wire suspension, contact marks and edge bruising, otherwise very fine £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: Cleghorn Collection 1875; Sotheby’s, May 1895; Glendining’s, December 1910; Sotheby’s, July 1979; Dix Noonan Webb, March 2005. William Leonard/Lennard entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in May 1809 via the Marine Society. In his subsequent career of 35 years, he won entitlement to the Naval General Service 1793-1840 with clasps for Java and Navarino, the former for services as a Boy 2nd Class in H.M.S. Bucephalus and the latter as a Captain’s Coxswain in the Cambrian. However, as verified by extensive accompanying research, one of the most dramatic moments of his career occurred on 23 June 1822, when his ship, the Drake, was shipwrecked off Newfoundland with the loss of one third of her crew. In a letter to the Admiralty, a senior surviving crew member, Gunner Thomas Elgar, wrote: ‘At half past seven o’clock the land was observed with heavy breakers ahead - immediately we hauled our wind, but not being enabled to clear the danger on that tack, attempted to stay the vessel, but from the heavy sea her stern took the breakers, and immediately fell broadside on the rocks, where the sea beat completely over her. The masts were cut away with a view to lightening the vessel, as well as affording a bridge to save the crew, but without success in either point. In a few moments she bilged and there did not appear the slightest prospect of saving a man. The cutter was launched over the lee gangway but sunk, immediately a man attempted with the deep sea leadline to swim on shore but the current setting so strong to the N.E. he was almost drowned in the attempt. The only hope remained in the gig (the jolly boat having been washed away) and she was launched from the forecastle [Leonard’s domain] with the Boatswain when fortunately a heavy surf washed her upon a rock not communicating with the Main, and she was dashed to pieces but the Boatswain succeeded in scrambling to the top of the rock with about seven fathoms of line, the rest having been carried away with the wreck of the fore and main masts. The forecastle, hitherto the only sheltered part of the vessel, was now abandoned for the poop, and all hope of saving the vessel being gone it was deemed advisable to quit her. The people severally stepped from the poop upon the rock except for a few who endeavoured to swim on shore - most of whom perished. Captain Baker after seeing the whole crew safe on the rock followed himself, but it was now found that the rock was insulated, and the tide making would cover it. The Boatswain observing this swam with a small line and fortunately reached the Main and coming opposite the rock on which we landed, threw the line across, by which the greater part of the people succeeded in crossing, which would otherwise have been impossible. Captain Baker, not withstanding that he was repeatedly solicited to cross, resolutely refused alleging till every soul was safe he could not think of it. Shortly after, the line, from a heavy sea was washed away, and in consequence of the surf and darkness of the night it was quite impossible to obtain another. Every instant the water continued to rise, when the officers and ship’s company used every endeavour, by tying their handkerchiefs together, to make another holdfast but that proving too weak it was found impracticable, and we were reluctantly compelled to abandon them to their fate. At daylight when we visited the beach there was not the slightest trace of these unfortunate sufferers ...’ Over the coming weeks a good deal of official correspondence regarding the loss of the Drake was exchanged between the survivors and Their Lordships - much of which survives in ADM 1/2789 - and, at length, in November 1822, when everyone had been safely re-assembled back in the U.K., a Court Martial was held at Portsmouth. All the survivors were duly acquitted, and Leonard received from the examining officers ‘great approbation for his zeal and gallantry in saving the lives of his shipmates.’ A few days later, on behalf of the Petty Officers and ratings of the Drake, Leonard wrote a letter to an old Lieutenant of the same ship - ‘in a truly seamanlike style’ - requesting that a memorial be erected to mark the bravery of their late skipper, Captain Charles Baker, R.N., a request that the Lieutenant forwarded for the attention of Their Lordships at the Admiralty, among others. And by the end of the same month, Leonard’s suggestion had found favour, so much so that today the resultant memorial tablet may be seen at St. Anne’s Church in H.M. Dockyard, Portsmouth. Not so graciously received by Their Lordships was a request by some of Drake’s survivors for remuneration for the loss of their clothes, an Admiralty minute of 21 November 1822 bluntly stating, “Refused”. As it transpired, this was not to be the sole occasion on which Leonard experienced the loss of his ship, for, in January 1828, as related in Marshall’s Naval Biography (see entry for Captain Hamilton, pp. 450-2), he was aboard the Cambrian when she collided with the Isis after an action against several privateers ‘within pistol-shot of the fort of Carabusa’. As a result, she ‘fell broadside to on a reef of rocks’ and became a total wreck. Leonard was awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in April 1836, his then Captain recommending him as ‘a man the most exemplary in every respect’, and, although “paid-off” in April 1838, he chose - in common with other old seadogs of Petty Officer status - to rejoin several years later, although on this occasion in the rate of Able Seaman. He was finally discharged in January 1855, by which stage he was in his 60s.
The emotive Dunkirk ‘little ships’ D.S.M. awarded to Engineer Fred Barter, H.M. Yacht Ankh, who, under heavy fire, assisted in ferrying 400 troops from the beaches; it is said that he also delivered a no-nonsense broadside of his own, when Lord Gort, V.C., apparently tried to jump the queue to his boat, a broadside of the four-letter variety Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (F. Barter, Yacht Engn. H.M.Y. Ankh.) impressed naming, contact marks, otherwise nearly very fine £1,000-£1,400 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Jeffrey Hoare Auction, April 2000. D.S.M. London Gazette 16 August 1940: ‘For good services in the withdrawal of Allied Armies from the beaches at Dunkirk.’ Requisitioned by the Admiralty, H.M. yacht Ankh was taken over by Captain J. M. Howson, R.N., as a temporary H.Q., when she arrived off Dunkirk on the morning of 31 May. She was manned by a handful of naval personnel and civilians. Howson had charge of nine yachts, which he divided between the beaches at Bray and La Panne, but owing to their deep draft they were unable to get close inshore, thereby necessitating the use of small launches and rowing boats to collect the awaiting troops from the beaches. One such boat was manned by Fred Barter and Able Seaman W. F. ‘Frank’ Lunn, R.N., a boat with a capacity for eight people but in which they proceeded to embark 20 at a time. During one return trip to the yachts, the boat was capsized by a near miss bomb, leaving the embarked soldiers floundering in water in full kit. Barter and Lunn swam over a mile to the yachts to collect another boat, and, under fire, returned to the beaches. In fact, they continued their gallant work throughout the day, eventually ferrying a total 400 troops to safety. In an article published in The War Graves Photographic Project Newsletter in the Spring of 2017, Barter’s grandson recalled how Fred never really spoke of his experiences off Dunkirk. He also recalled how he came across an amusing anecdote concerning Field Marshal Lord Gort, V.C. Apparently Gort appeared on the beach and tried to jump the queue to Fred’s boat, an endeavour that was smartly curtailed when the latter told him to “**** off!” Barter may have been a modest man, but he did manage to say a few words to The Hampshire Telegraph and Post, when interviewed in March 1941: ‘Barter shared charge of a rowing boat which was sent ashore to pick up soldiers. Normally the boat held only six, but Barter and his companion got in 20, and towed rafts carrying several other soldiers. “We were sunk by enemy action and had to swim for it,” said Barter. “Many of the B.E.F. men returned to the shore, but Lunn and I swam over a mile back to the yacht, took another boat, and carried on with the good work. Eventually we got nearly 400 soldiers safely on to our yacht.” ’ He received his D.S.M. from King George VI at Buckingham Place on 16 July 1940.
The fine and unique 4-clasp Naval General Service medal awarded to Gunner George Shirley, Royal Navy, who served on board the flagships of Sir Hyde Parker on 14 March 1795, of Sir Horatio Nelson at the Nile, and of Lord Keith in Egypt, later promoted to Gunner Naval General Service 1793-1840, 4 clasps, 14 March 1795, Nile, Egypt, Martinique (Goe. Shirley, Master’s Mate.) original ribbon, nearly extremely fine £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: Glendining’s March 1919. This combination of four clasps appears to be unique. George Shirley joined the Courageux in February 1791, aged 20, and transferred as an Able Seaman to St George in February 1793, flagship of Vice Admiral Sir Hyde Parker (Captain Foley) in Hotham’s action on 14 March 1793. He transferred in March 1798 to the Vanguard, flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson (Captain Berry), under whom he served as Quartermaster’s Mate at the battle of the Nile, during which he would have been stationed at the wheel (Note that his rate was incorrectly copied down by the medal roll compiler who entered Master’s Mate in error, this being senior to his eventual rate of Gunner and therefore that which appears on his medal). In June 1799, Shirley joined Foudroyant, flagship of Admiral Lord Keith (Captain Beaver) and again served as Quartermaster’s Mate during the operations in Egypt in 1801. Shirley’s qualities must have been well respected for him to have been promoted, possibly as reward, to warrant officer status in August 1801, as Gunner, just ten years after joining the Navy. As one of the most trustworthy and reliable man in any ship, Shirley served as Gunner for the next 35 years. He was present on board the Cleopatra in February 1805 when she fell in with and was boarded and taken by the larger French frigate Ville de Milan. The loss to the British amounted to 22 killed and 36 wounded, the remainder becoming prisoner under a French prize crew. However, six days later, Cleopatra and Ville de Milan were sighted by Leander and neither vessel being in a fit state to fight, both surrendered to the British frigate without a shot being fired. George Shirley’s naval career seems to have come to an honourable end with his discharge to shore from Britannia in December 1836, at the age of about 65 years.
The impressive ‘Flag Officer Royal Yachts’ G.C.V.O., Great War C.B. group of thirteen to Admiral Sir Henry Buller, Royal Navy, who commanded H.M.S. Highflyer in her epic engagement with the German cruiser Kaisar Wilhelm der Grosse off Rio de Oro in August 1914, an action extensively portrayed the pages of ‘Deeds That Thrill The Empire’ The Royal Victorian Order, G.C.V.O., Knight Grand Cross set of insignia, comprising sash badge, silver-gilt and enamels and breast star, silver, with gilt and enamel centre, both officially numbered ‘581’ on reverse, in Collingwood, London numbered case of issue; The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels, in damaged Garrard, London case of issue; 1914-15 Star (Capt. H. T. Buller, M.V.O., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. H. T. Buller. R.N.); Defence Medal 1939-45; Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1953; Russia, Empire, Order of St. Anne, Third Class breast badge by Keibel, gold and enamels, two reverse arms chipped, these last seven mounted court-style as worn; Belgium, Order of the Crown, Knight Grand Cross set of insignia, by Wolravens, Brussels, comprising sash badge, silver-gilt and enamels, and breast star, silver with silver-gilt and enamel centre, in case of issue; Roumania, Order of the Star (Military), Second Class set of insignia, by Resch, Bucharest, comprising neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels, and breast star, silver, with silver-gilt and enamel centre, in case of issue, unless otherwise described, good very fine and better (14) £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 2000. G.C.V.O. London Gazette 11 August 1930: For services as Flag Officer Royal Yachts. C.B. London Gazette 1 January 1919: ‘In recognition of services during the War.’ The original recommendation states: ‘Sank Kaiser Wilhelm de Grosse. Extract from letter to Rear-Admiral, Carnarvon: Captain Buller’s action has their Lordship’s complete approval in every respect for the humane and correct manner in which he did his duty.’ Henry Tritton Buller was born in 1873, the son of Admiral Sir Alexander Buller, G.C.B., of Erie Hall, Devon and Belmore House, West Cowes, and entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet in January 1887. Regular seagoing duties aside, his subsequent career appointments also included his services as First Lieutenant of the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert in 1902-04, for which he was awarded the Russian Order of St. Anne in October 1904 and advanced to Commander, and as Commanding Officer of the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth between January 1908 and June 1911. On the Prince of Wales passing out of the college in 1911, Buller was appointed M.V.O. (London Gazette 12 April 1911, refers) and advanced to Captain. His next appointment was Flag Captain Home Fleets at Portsmouth, 1911-12, whence he was appointed to the command of H.M.S. Highflyer, the training ship for special entry cadets. On the day hostilities broke out in 1914, Buller in Highflyer captured to S.S. Tubantia, carrying German reservists and a gold shipment. Three weeks later, he found the German commerce raider Kaiser Wilhelm Der Grosse, coaling in Spanish territorial waters off the mouth of the Oro River, West Africa. On offering the faster vessel the chance to surrender, Buller received the signal: “Germans never surrender, and you must respect the neutrality of Spain.” But since it was known that the commerce raider had abused Spanish neutrality by using the river mouth as a permanent base for some weeks, Buller gave warning that he would attack in half an hour, allowing time for the colliers to withdraw with such personnel as the German captain felt fit. Deeds That Thrill the Empire takes up the story: ‘As soon as the period of grace had elapsed the Highflyer again inquired if the enemy would surrender, and when the answer came, “We have nothing more to say,” the action opened without further parley. The British cruiser let fly with one of her 6-inch guns at a range of just under 10,000 yards; but the shot fell short. The enemy’s guns were smaller - 4.1-inch - but much more modern, and before our shells began to hit the enemy the German projectiles were falling thickly around and upon the Highflyer. One shell went between a man’s legs and burst just behind him, peppering him with splinters. Another struck the bridge just after the captain had left it to go into the conning-tower, and knocked a searchlight overboard. All this time the Highflyer was steaming in so as to get her guns well within range; and when the 100lb shells began to hit they “kept on target” in a manner that spoke well for the training of our gunners. One shot carried away a 4-inch gun on the after-deck of the enemy. Another burst under the quarter-deck and started a fire; a third - perhaps the decisive shot of the action - struck her amidships on the water-line and tore a great rent in her side. From stem to stern the 6-inch shells tore their destructive way, and it was less than half and hour after the fighting began that the “pride of the Atlantic” began to slacken her fire. The water was pouring into the hole amidships, and she slowly began to heel to port. Three boat loads of men were seen to leave her and make for the shore … The Highflyer immediately signalled that if the enemy wished to abandon ship, they would not be interfered with; and as the guns of the Kaiser Wilhelm had by this time ceased to answer our fire, the Highflyer ceased also, and two boats were sent off with surgeons, sick-berth attendants and medical stores, to do what they could for the enemy’s wounded. The ship herself was battered beyond all hope, and presently heeled over and sank in about fifty feet of water. Although Highflyer had been hit about fifteen times her losses amounted to only one man killed and five slightly wounded. The enemy’s loss is unknown, but it is estimated that at least two hundred were killed or wounded, while nearly four hundred of those who had escaped in the colliers were captured a fortnight later in the Hamburg-America liner Bethania … ’ The same source concludes: ‘It was noteworthy as being the first duel of the naval war and as being the first definite step in the process of “clearing the seas.” It is not often the Admiralty evinces any enthusiasm in the achievements of the Fleet, and the following message despatched to the victorious cruiser is therefore all the more remarkable: “Admiralty to Highflyer – Bravo! You have rendered a service not only to Britain, but to the peaceful commerce of the world. The German officers and crew appear to have carried out their duties with humanity and restraint, and are therefore worthy of all seamanlike consideration.” Buller departed Highflyer in May 1916, when he was appointed Naval Assistant to the Second Sea Lord at the Admiralty, but he returned to sea as Flag Captain in the Barham in April 1918, and as Commanding Officer of the Valiant at the war’s end. A succession of ‘royal appointments’ ensued in the 20s and 30s, commencing with his command of the Malaya during the Duke of Connaught’s visit to India in early 1921. He was appointed C.V.O. (London Gazette 25 March 1921, refers) and advanced to Rear-Admiral. He then served as Officer Commanding H.M.’s Yachts during the period of King George V’s cruise in the Mediterranean, and was appointed K.C.V.O. (London Gazette 22 April 1925, refers). ...
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 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 3-clasp Naval General Service medal awarded to Lieutenant John Meares, Royal Marines, for his services as 2nd Lieutenant on board the Active, being wounded in action at Lissa and mentioned in despatches Naval General Service 1793-1840, 3 clasps, 28 June Boat Service 1810, Lissa, Pelagosa 29 Novr. 1811 (John Meares, 2nd Lieut. R.M.) original ribbon, toned, extremely fine £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: Peter Dale Collection, July 2000. 25 clasps issued for Boat Service 28 June 1810, 123 clasps issued for Lissa; and 64 clasps issued for Pelagosa 29 Novr. 1811. Capture of twenty-five vessels at Grao, 28 June 1810 ‘The British frigates, Active, thirty-eight, Captain J. Gordon, and Cerberus, thirty-two, Captain H. Whitby, under the orders of Captain W. Hoste, of the Amphion, thirty-two, were cruising in the Gulf of Trieste, in the month of June. On the morning of June 28th, the Amphion chased a convoy laden with naval stores for the arsenal at Venice, into the harbour of Grao. Captain Hoste decided upon the capture or destruction of the vessels, which, owing to the shoals, could be effected only by boats. In the evening he signalled to the Active and Cerberus, to send their boats to him at midnight, but owing to her distance in the offing the Active was unable to obey the signal in time. At the hour appointed the boats of the Amphion and Cerberus, commanded by Lieutenant W. Slaughter, second of the Amphion, assisted by Lieutenants D. O'Brien, and J. Dickenson, pushed off, and before daylight landed a little to the right of the town. On advancing the British were attacked by a body of French troops, and armed peasantry, who were charged with the bayonet, and a sergeant and thirty-five men made prisoners. The town was then entered, and the vessels, twenty-five in number, taken possession of, but it being low water, it was late in the evening, and only after great exertions they were got afloat, and over the bar. In the mean time the boats of the Active came up, and assisted in repelling another attack of the enemy, taking their Commander and twenty-two men prisoners. Five vessels were brought out with their cargoes, and a number of small trading craft, laden with the cargoes of eleven vessels which were burnt. At eight p.m., the boats and the prizes had joined the ships, which had anchored about four miles from the town. The loss of the victors in this dashing affair, was four men killed, and Lieutenant Brattle of the Marines, and seven men wounded. Lieutenant Slaughter was promoted to the rank of Commander in the month of November following.’ (Medals of the British Navy by W. H. Long refers). Action off Lissa, 13 March 1811 ‘In 1811, Captain W. Hoste in the Amphion, thirty-two, having under his command the Active, thirty-eight, Capt. J. A. Gordon; Cerberus, thirty-two, Captain H. Whitby; and the Volage, twenty-two, Captain P. Hornby, was cruising in the Adriatic. On March 13, off the Island of Lissa, he met with a French squadron of four French and Venetian frigates of forty guns each, two of thirty-two guns, a corvette of sixteen guns, and four smaller vessels, more than double his force. Hoste formed his line of battle, and with the signal, ‘Remember Nelson’ at his masthead, awaited the attack of the enemy, who bore down in two divisions and attempted to break his line. They were received by so well directed a fire that their leading ship La Favourite became unmanageable, and in endeavouring to wear, ran on the rocks. Part of the French squadron then engaged the British to leeward, while their other ships continued the action to wind-ward, thus placing Hoste between two fires, a French frigate taking her station on the lee quarter, and a Venetian frigate on the weather quarter of the Amphion. After a severe contest both were compelled to strike.. The remainder of the enemy then bore off, the Amphion was too crippled to pursue, but the Active and Cerberus chased and captured the Venetian frigate Corona of forty-four guns. Another French frigate, which had struck her colours and surrendered, taking advantage of the disabled state of the Amphion stole off, and with the smaller vessels escaped. The French Commodore Dubourdieu was slain in the action, and his ship being on the rocks was set on fire by her crew and destroyed. The loss of the British was fifty men killed and one hundred and fifty wounded. The loss of the French was much greater. (Medals of the British Navy by W. H. Long refers). The Alceste, Active and Unitié with French frigates, 29 November 1811 On November 29th, as the thirty-eight gun frigates Alceste, and Active, Captains M. Maxwell, and J. A. Gordon, and Unitie, thirty-two, Captain E. Chamberlayne, were cruising in the Adriatic, near the island of Augusta, three strange sail appeared, which proved to be the French forty-gun frigates Pauline, and Pomone, and the frigate built store ship Persanne, from Corfu to Trieste, laden with brass and iron ordnance. On discovering the British frigates, the French ships made sail to the north west, and were chased by the Alceste, and her companions. At eleven a.m. the Persanne finding she could not keep way with the Paulino and Pomone separated from them, and bore up before the wind, and the Unitie was ordered by Captain Maxwell to go in pursuit of her. The Alceste and Active continued the chase of the Pauline and Pomone, and at twenty-four minutes past one p.m. the Alceste under a press of sail to get alongside the French Commodore, a short distance ahead, exchanged broadsides with the Pomone, but a shot carrying away her main top-mast, the wreck fell over on the starboard side, and the Alceste dropped astern. Cheers of ‘Vive l'Empereur,’ arose from both the French ships, but the Active coming up, took the place of the Alceste, and brought the Pomone to close action about two p.m. Shortly after, the Pauline stood for the Alceste and both ships about half-past two p.m. became closely engaged. After an action of thirty minutes, the French Commodore, seeing that the Pomone was getting the worst of it with the Active, and observing the eighteen-gun sloop Kingfisher, Captain E. Tritton, approaching in the distance, hauled his wind, and stood to the westward under all sail. The Alceste then ranged up on the larboard beam of the Pomone and opened fire on her, the Active having unavoidably shot ahead. The main and mizzen masts of the Pomone fell overboard, and immediately afterwards she hoisted a Union Jack in token of surrender. Neither of the British frigates being in a condition to pursue the Pauline, the French Commodore escaped, and reached Ancona in safety. In the mean time the Unitié pursued the Persanne and was galled considerably by her stern chasers. About four p.m. the British frigate got near enough to open her broadside, the Persanne returned it, and immediately hauled down her colours. The sails and rigging of the Unitié were considerably damaged, but she had but one man wounded. The Persanne had two men killed, and four men wounded. The casualities on board the Alceste, out of a crew of two hundred and eighteen men and boys, were a midshipman and six men killed, and a lieutenant and twelve men wounded. The Active had a midshipman and seven men killed, her gallant captain lost a leg, and two lieutenants and twenty-four men were wounded. The fore-mast of the Pomone fell soon after her capture, and her hull was so shattered by the well directed fire of the Active that she had five feet of water in her hold. Out of her crew of three hundred and thirty two men, fifty were killed and wounded, among the latter being her cap...
The extremely rare inter-war Palestine D.S.M. pair awarded to Stoker Petty Officer H. J. Shorter, Royal Navy, a volunteer from H.M.S. Barham who was wounded whilst serving as a train guard during the volatile General Strike of 1936 Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (K.28338 H. J. Shorter, S.P.O., R.N. Palestine 1936) impressed naming, official correction to first four letters of ‘Palestine’; Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1936-39 (K.28338 H. J. Shorter, S.P.O. R.N.) some edge bruising to the first, otherwise very fine and better (2) £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, February 1997 - DSM only, since reunited with NGS. Just three D.S.M.s were awarded for the pre-war operations in Palestine, all in 1936, out of an equally rare total of 10 D.S.M.s for the entire inter-war period. D.S.M. London Gazette 6 November 1936: ‘For gallant and distinguished services rendered in connection with the emergency operations in Palestine during the period 15 April to 14 September 1936.’ Henry Jack Shorter was born in Shaftesbury, Dorset, on 21 April 1896, and joined the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class in October 1915. Having then served ashore in Victory II, he joined the cruiser H.M.S. Doris in the following year and remained similarly employed until the war’s end. Advanced to Stoker Petty Officer in October 1930, and awarded the L.S. & G.C. medal February 1931, he joined the battleship Barham on the Mediterranean station in August 1935. When a general strike was declared in Palestine on 20 April 1936, it was feared the country’s railway system would be crippled. High on the list of the local authorities’ concerns was the onward transportation of cargo landed at the ports of Jaffa and Haifa. In consequence, a call went out for volunteers from ships of the Fleet lying at Alexandria, including H.M.S. Barham, and 13 railway crews of an engine driver and fireman were formed, in addition to further ratings being trained in a variety of other related disciplines, including signalling. By the summer, extremists were responding with acts of sabotage and intimidation, and the volunteer train crews - who managed to maintain a sixty percent service - received a two-man armed guard. Nonetheless, the actions of the extremists were highly effective, incorporating as they did the removal of railway track, and the use of explosive devices on the rails. Another, and most unpleasant form of sabotage, because of the difficulty in seeing it, was the widening of the gauge so that trains came off the rails. On the afternoon of 4 September 1936, a heavy goods train pulled by two engines was derailed by sabotage on the Jaffa to Jerusalem line near Qalqiliya, just north of Lydda, causing the death of a British soldier, a native driver, and five other casualties. In the first engine the native driver was killed and the fireman scalded so badly that he later died. Of the two-man military guard, one was killed and the other injured. In the second engine, the driver and the two-man naval guard were also injured, including Shorter, who was scalded. Here, then, the origins of the award of his D.S.M. By September 1936, large troop reinforcements had arrived, and the military were able to take over all the tasks of the Royal Navy, apart from maintenance of the coastal patrol to guard against gun-running. Sir Samuel Hoare, First Lord of the Admiralty, paid tribute to the naval personnel serving ashore in a speech on 4 September 1936, after a visit to Haifa: “Once again, the Navy has readily met an unexpected emergency. If I wanted an example of its adaptability, what better could I have than an armoured train fitted out and manned by naval personnel?” Shorter was invested with his D.S.M. in June 1937, shortly before he was pensioned ashore. Recalled in the summer of 1939, he joined the destroyer Keppel and shared in her part in evacuating troops from France in May-June 1940, before to removing to the cruiser Penelope in June 1941. Towards the end of the year, Penelope joined Force K in the Mediterranean, and she went on to witness extensive action on the Malta run and elsewhere, so much so that she was nicknamed ‘H.M.S. Pepperot’ on account of damage sustained. Interestingly, Shorter’s service record states that he was surveyed at 64th General Hospital, M.E.F. in early November 1943. He was finally released ‘Class A’ in October 1945. Sold with copied research including contemporary newspaper and Illustraed London News reports with photographic illustrations.
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 rare and outstanding battle of the Atlantic D.S.M. group of seven awarded to Chief Engine Room Artificer D. ‘Don’ Portree, Royal Canadian Navy, who was decorated for his gallant deeds in H.M.C.S. Assiniboine in August 1942, when she engaged, rammed and sunk the U-210. The action was captured in a remarkable series of photographs taken by an embarked official war correspondent and historian, an action marked by the extraordinary belligerence of the U-boat’s crew, several of whom loudly ‘Heiled’ on being rescued and brought aboard Assiniboine: not to be outdone, it is said that Canadian celebratory yells on getting their ‘kill’ probably ‘frightened U-boats’ as far as 10 miles away Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (21972 D. Portree, E.R.A.4, R.C.N.) impressed naming; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, 1 copy clasp, France and Germany; Defence Medal, Canadian issue in silver; Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, with overseas clasp; War Medal 1939-45, Canadian issue in silver; Canadian Forces Decoration, E. II.R. (CPO 1/c D Portree) mounted as worn, good very fine (7) £3,000-£4,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- One of approximately 100 awards of the D.S.M. to the Royal Canadian Navy. D.S.M. London Gazette 22 December 1942: ‘For services in action with enemy submarines while serving in H.M. Canadian Ships.’ Donald Portree was born in Winnipeg, Canada in 1911 but later made his way east, ‘riding the rails’ during the depression. By 1940 he had settled with his wife in Hamilton, where he was working as a moulder at Dominion Foundries. Having then joined the Royal Canadian Navy, he was serving as an Engine Room Artificer in the destroyer H.M.C.S. Assiniboine by 1942. Assiniboine’s subsequent action with U-210 is well-documented, both in words and in photographs, due to her having embarked an official war correspondent and historian; the images used here are courtesy of the Department of National Defence/National Archives of Canada In August 1942, Assiniboine was detailed to act as escort to convoy SC-94, bound from Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, to the U.K. Lieutenant-Commander J. H. Stubbs, R.C.N., commanding Assiniboine, had the largest and fastest ship amongst the accompanying escort of three R.N. and three R.C.N. corvettes, the whole charged with protecting the 33 participating merchantmen. In the event, 11 of them were sunk. On the morning of 6 August 1942, U-210 was sighted by Assiniboine’s lookout at 1125 hours, a few miles away on the convoy’s starboard bow. Increasing speed, she hastened towards the surfaced U-boat which dived after three salvoes from her guns. Assiniboine’s then delivered three depth charge attacks, following which U-210 was sighted again at 1712 hours, surfaced about half a mile away, in the shifting and sometimes dense fog. A wild goose chase ensued, the destroyer and U-boat darting in and out of the fog patches, with Stubbs being unable to bring his 4.7-inch guns to bear on the target. Finally, however, Assiniboine got so close that only her secondary armament was able to depress sufficiently to bear on the twisting U-boat, her half-inch calibre machine-guns desperately trying to compete with the U-boat’s torrent of 37mm. and 20mm. fire. Hits were achieved by both sides, German sailors being swept from the boat’s casing in rushing to man the guns, but themselves getting hits on Assiniboine’s bridge and forward gun positions, killing one gunner, and wounding thirteen others. A fire fed by gasoline stored on Assiniboine’s upper deck took hold, starboard of the wheelhouse, and the ship’s coxswain, Chief Petty Officer Bernays, ordered two members of his team to go out and fight the flames. One of them was Chief Engine Room Artificer Don Portree, who was flipped over the ship’s rails when the pressure suddenly surged through his fire hose. Holding on for dear life, he was at length hauled back aboard, and by the time Assiniboine’s First Lieutenant, Ralph Hennessy, arrived on the scene, he found that Portree and Chief Torpedoman Burgess were well underway in fighting the fire. Stubbs, meanwhile, continued his battle with the U-boat, dropping more depth charges but without result. Finally, he was able to move off and bring his 4.7-inch guns to bear, obtaining a hit on the submarine’s bridge which killed the German captain. And when the U-210 commenced to dive, Stubbs was at last able to ram her just behind the conning tower. Yet, in an extraordinary act of belligerence the U-boat resurfaced and resumed firing her 20mm. gun. Once again Assiniboine’s 4-7-inch guns got stuck in, whilst Stubbs circled and rammed, this time convincingly so: U-210 was finished, slipping beneath the waves for a final time. In concluding his official report, Captain Stubbs stated: ‘I turned as quickly as possible to find him surfacing again but slightly down by the stern, still firing and making about 10 knots. After a little manoeuvring, we rammed him again well abaft the conning tower and fired a shallow pattern of depth charges as we passed. Also one 4.7″ shell from “Y” Gun scored a direct hit on his bows. He sank by the head in about two minutes. Dianthus appeared out of the fog just in time to see him go. The yell that went up from both ships must have frightened U-boats for about 10 miles in the vicinity. Ten prisoners were picked up by Assiniboine, 8 by Dianthus, six of which were later transferred to Assiniboine. While they were being separated the prisoners “Heiled” several times at the top of their voices. When received onboard, officers, of which there were two, and ratings, were segregated. Casualties sustained amounted to one rating killed, one officer and twelve ratings wounded. Ship’s plating was punctured in dozens of places on the water line, gun shields, bridge, range finder, funnels and searchlight platform. Several bullets penetrated to the wheel house, which probably accounts for the lack of track charts for this particular period. All compartments below the waterline, aft to the provision room were flooded, and extra shores were placed. A./S. and R.D.F. were out of action as well as gun circuits and certain lighting circuits. It is notable that two of the most delicate instruments in the ship, the plot and the gyro, remained intact. In view of all this I decided the ship must return to St. John’s forthwith … ’ The gallant actions of Assiniboine’s crew were duly rewarded: in fact, in terms of a single action, the ship became one of the most decorated in the history of the Royal Canadian Navy: Stubbs received the D.S.O., his First Lieutenant the D.S.C., the coxswain the C.G.M. (one of just two such awards to the R.C.N. in the last war), and Portree and three others the D.S.M. Fourteen of the crew were mentioned in despatches, too. Portree received his D.S.M. at an investiture held in July 1943 and returned to Hamilton after the war. He died there in 1994. Sold with copied research.
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 extremely rare Second War ‘V.C. action’ honorary D.S.M. group of eight awarded to Lieutenant E. Obelkevitch, United States Navy, who was decorated for his gallantry in the famous assault on Oran harbour in November 1942, when he saved numerous lives aboard the stricken ex-U.S. cutter H.M.S. Hartland Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (Mr. E. Obelkevitch. Gnr. U.S.N. H.M.S. Hartland.) impressed naming; U.S.A., Medal for Military Merit; U.S.A., Purple Heart; U.S.A., Navy Long Service; U.S.A., Defense; U.S.A., Campaign; U.S.A., European, African and Middle East Campaign,with three bronze stars; U.S.A., War Medal, these seven American awards added for display purposes and mounted for display in precedence to the D.S.M., extremely fine (8) £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 17 honorary awards of the D.S.M. were made to the United States Navy in the Second World War. Such awards were not gazetted but the original recommendation signed by Admiral of the Fleet ‘ABC’ Cunningham at Algiers on 13 October 1943 states: ‘On 8 November 1942, H.M.S. Hartland, flying the British and United States Ensigns, entered Oran under heavy fire in an attempt to prevent the sabotage of the port. Gunner Obelkevitch was leader of a boarding party. When this unit was wiped out by the explosion of a shell, he attempted to organise a hopeless attempt to extinguish the fires. His courage and initiative were an outstanding example and inspiration. He was ultimately instrumental in saving many lives of wounded men and remained on board after the deck was red hot and the ship in danger of blowing up at any moment.’ Edward Obelkevitch was born in Dickson City, Pennsylvania on 13 August 1900, and joined the United States Navy in December 1918. A Gunner (T.) by the time of the Second World War, he was appointed to command a boarding party from the ex-U.S. cutter H.M.S. Hartland in the famous attack on the port of Oran on 8 November 1942, for which action Captain F. T. Peters, D.S.O., D.S.C., R.N., overall commander of the operation in H.M.S. Walney, was awarded the Victoria Cross. Described as a ‘miniature Zeebrugge’ the assault on Oran resulted in terrible casualties, both Hartland and Walney being sunk by a torrent of point-blank fire. In his book The Turn of the Road, ex-naval officer Sir Lewis Ritchie describes the unfolding scene of carnage as Hartland came under withering fire, and pays tribute to Obelkevitch’s gallant deeds: ‘In the meanwhile, Hartland had been picked up in the searchlight and came under a devastating fire from the shore battery. The entire guns’ crews were wiped out and a steam pipe was severed, drowning everything in the noise of escaping steam. The Captain was temporarily blinded by a splinter and wounded in the leg, and before he could recover, Hartland struck the breakwater. Regaining the sight of one eye, he put the engines astern and manoeuvred his ship through the entrance, heading her for the appointed objective; this brought Hartland under point-blank fire from a French destroyer. Shells burst in the motor-room and all power failed; they also burst in the spaces where troops were waiting assembled to land, transforming them into a shambles. With fires raging fore and aft, Hartland’s way carried her alongside the mole. Lieutenant-Commander Dickey, U.S.N., calling on his men to follow him, leaped ashore to attempt to seize a trawler alongside. Only one unwounded man was able to follow him. The dead lay heaped so thick on the upper deck that the wounded could not get at the hoses to fight the fires. The First Lieutenant, Lieutenant V. A. Hickson, R.N., made a gallant effort to pass a wire ashore, but there was no one left to man it effectively. The wind now caught the ship and she began to drift helplessly out into the harbour. Lieutenant Hickson blundered forward through a tempest of machine-gun bullets and let go the anchor. The flames, funnel-high, lit the White Ensign and “Old Glory” at peak and masthead above the careless sprawling dead, and tinged the smoke rolling away to leeward across the quiet waters of the harbour with a fierce and bloody glare. As if appalled at the sight of this blazing sacrifice, the French at last ceased fire. Then, and not until then, Lieutenant-Commander Billot gave the order to abandon ship. The deck was red hot: blinded with blood and twice more wounded, he clung to the rail, summoning strength to leave the ship. Lieutenant E. G. Lawrence, R.N.V.R., and Gunner Obelkevitch, U.S.N., who had fought the fires almost single-handed to the last, swam ashore, seized the French trawler’s dingy by force, paddled her with floorboards back to where their Captain clung to a scramble net. They hauled him into the boat and he urged them in a whisper to pull for the open sea and freedom. He was fainting from his wounds; they had only the floorboards with which to row and were covered in every direction by rifles and machine-guns … they were taken prisoner as they landed.’ Obelkevitch was held by the Vichy-French until the advancing Allies liberated him a few days later, following which he was promoted to Chief Gunner and awarded the British D.S.M. A qualified diver, he was subsequently commissioned Lieutenant and served out the war as a salvage officer. Obelkevitch retired from the U.S. Navy in April 1949, and died in California in March 1971. Sold with extensive copied research.
‘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 rare and historic Commission document appointing Mr C. D. Lucas, Royal Navy, as Acting Mate on the steam sloop Hecla, in which vessel, one month later, he won the very first Victoria Cross Original Commission document, signed by Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Napier, appointing Mr C. D. Lucas as Acting Mate on the steam sloop Hecla, dated Hango Head, 21 May 1854, folded and repaired but generally in good condition £1,600-£2,000 --- 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 2006. Charles Davis Lucas was born in Drumargole, Armagh, Ireland, on 19 February 1834. Serving as a Mate aboard the Hecla, he became the first man to be awarded the Victoria Cross. The Register of the Victoria Cross states of the action: On 21 June 1854 in the Baltic, H.M.S. Hecla, with two other ships, was bombarding Bomarsund, a fort in the Aland Islands. The fire was returned from the shore, and at the height of the action a live shell landed on Hecla’s upper deck, with its fuse still hissing. All hands were ordered to fling themselves flat on the deck, but Mr Lucas with great presence of mind ran forward and hurled the shell into the sea, where it exploded with a tremendous roar before it hit the water. Thanks to Mr Lucas’s action no one was killed or seriously wounded’. (V.C. London Gazette 24 February 1857). Lucas later attained the rank of Rear-Admiral. He died on 7 August 1914.
The fine Great War submariner’s D.S.M. group of five awarded to Chief Engine Room Artificer 2nd class R. E. Jupp, Royal Navy; decorated for his prominent part in the E. 11’s famous patrol in the Sea of Marmora in May 1915, he was nonetheless reduced from Chief E.R.A. to C.E.R.A. 2 by Nasmith, V.C., for swearing at his No. 1, Lieutenant D’Oyly-Hughes - in normal circumstances Jupp’s punishment might have been far greater, but Nasmith was acutely aware of his value to the E. 11’s operational future Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (272396. R. E. Jupp, E.R.A. 2 Cl. H.M. Submarine E.11.); 1914-15 Star (272396, R. E. Jupp. D.S.M. E.R.A. 2. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (272396 R. E. Jupp. C.E.R.A. 2 R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 2nd issue, fixed suspension (272396 R. E. Jupp. C.E.R.A. 2, H.M.S. Lucia), mounted as worn, contact marks and edge bruising, otherwise generally 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 --- --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, June 2006. D.S.M. London Gazette 13 September 1915: ‘For service in submarines in the Sea of Marmora.’ The recommendation states: ‘H.M. Submarine Ell Sea of Marmora 18 May to 7 June 1915. Passed through the Dardanelles on night of 18 May. On 23 May sank Ottoman gunboat Peleng-I Derya and on 24 May sank Naval Auxiliary Naga and S.S. Hunkar Iskelesi. On 25 May the transport ship Stamboul was torpedoed. On 28 May S.S. Bandirma was sunk and on 31 May the troop transport S.S. Madeline Rickmers torpedoed. The S.S. Tecielli was sunk on 2 June and finally on 7 June while passing out through the Dardanelles sank troopship S.S. Ceyhan. In total eleven ships were sunk or disabled during the mission.’ Reginald Jupp was born at Horsham, Sussex in October 1884 and entered the Royal Navy as an Acting Engine Room Artificer 4th Class in July 1907. Transferring to the submarine branch in October 1912, he was serving as an Engine Room Artificer 2nd Class at the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914. Jupp was undoubtedly a forceful character, and one who played a vital role in the E. 11’s remarkable patrols in the Sea of Marmora, a contention which is amply supported by the definitive account of those exploits, namely Dardanelles Patrol, by Peter Shankland and Anthony Hunter, which was first published in 1965 - indeed the authors duly acknowledge Jupp’s valuable contribution to their eye-witness material. From the numerous references to him in the text, it is possible, too, to place Jupp aboard the E. 11 from the commencement of hostilities, so he had earlier shared in her gallant attempt to penetrate the Baltic in October 1914, an operation that was hindered by engine trouble and the regular attention of the enemy; nearly rammed by German patrol vessels on the 19th, she returned home on the following day after being spotted by an aircraft that directed a flotilla of destroyers in pursuit of her; and having survived that ordeal, E. 11 was again nearly rammed after delivering an unsuccessful torpedo strike in Heligoland Bight in December of the same year - her target was an enemy ship returning from the bombardment of Scarborough. As recounted in Dardanelles Patrol, Jupp told Nasmith “Bad luck, sir” when it was apparent the torpedoes had missed, the latter responding, “It’s just as well I missed. She was too close. We would have both gone up together. But I’ll tell you this, Jupp, I won’t smoke or drink till I’ve sunk an enemy warship.” Nor did he. Yet it was, of course, for her subsequent deeds in the Dardanelles campaign in 1915, that the E. 11 won undying fame in the annals of submarine warfare, and Reginald Jupp his D.S.M. The spring of 1915 found the E.11 attached to the Fleet in the Mediterranean and, with Lieutenant-Commander Martin Eric Nasmith in command, she proceeded to make history at a rapid rate. It was in the middle of May that she left for her perilous passage through the Dardanelles, and before she was through them she ran into her first encounter with the enemy. When the Narrows had been successfully negotiated, and the submarine rose to get fresh bearings, two battleships were seen to be lying a little further on. Such an opportunity was not to be let slip without an effort, and, necessarily keeping the periscope above water, Lieutenant-Commander Nasmith at once proceeded to put his boat in a suitable position for launching a torpedo. Unfortunately, the Turks sighted the periscope a minute or two too soon, and instantly the battleships began blazing away with their light guns as hard as they could. At the same time they ‘upped anchor’ and got under way, so there was nothing for it but for the E.11 to dive and hide herself until the furore had subsided. She was far too slow to catch the battleships if she ran submerged, and if she rose to the surface she would almost certainly have been breached by a shell. After a little, therefore, she gently settled herself on the bottom of the Straits, and there she remained until dusk. That same evening she pushed on into the Sea of Marmora, where for several days she alternately rested and cruised about without finding anything that was worth the expenditure of a torpedo. Lieutenant-Commander Nasmith made Constantinople the centre of his operations during the whole of this raid, and his first reward came one Sunday morning, just before half-past six, when a big gunboat was seen cruising off the port. The submarine was ready for instant action, and in less than a minute the fatal torpedo was underway. At 6.25 the gunboat was hit; at 6.30 she had sunk, but not without giving the E.11 something of a shock. While she was heeling well over to the water's edge, a shot was fired that went clean through the submarine's periscope, carrying away about four inches of the diameter a few feet from the base, and leaving the rest standing. Had the shot struck about six feet lower, it would very probably have made a breach in the conning tower, and so rendered the submarine helpless, as she would not have been able to dive. The very next day brought an adventure which, if it was not so exciting, at any rate did not lack in interest. A big steamer was sighted making her way from Constantinople towards the Dardanelles, and the E.11 came to the surface a short distance ahead, fired a shot across her bows, and brought her to a standstill. There happened to be a facetious American newspaper correspondent on board, and when Lieutenant-Commander Nasmith hailed “Who are you?” - meaning, of course, to inquire what the ship was and what was her business - this gentleman replied by giving his own name and that of the paper for which he was working. This was not good enough for the E.11. A few more questions elicited the fact that the ship was a Turkish transport, the Nagara, and when he got as far as that, Nasmith promptly replied, “Right. I am going to sink you”. “May we have time to get off?” queried the newspaper man, by this time rather subdued. “Yes”, came the answer from the submarine, “but be d..... quick about it.” The Turks were so quick that they upset two of their boats in lowering them, and capsized several men into the water, though all of them managed to get into safety again. Then Nasmith went on board the ship to see what she carried. There was a six-inch gun, destined to strengthen the forts on the Dardanelles; there were several sets of mountings for weapons of large calibre; and there was a great quantity of ammunition for heavy guns on its way to the Dardanelles. The ship was, in fact, loaded from keel...
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 Army A.A. Gunners, under Bombardier Labern, and Naval Gunners, under Gunlayer Pilling, assisted by the ship’s crew, kept up a marvellous, continuous and accurate barrage in the face of unceasing and direct attack on numerous occasions. Their courageous keenness kept the men untiringly at their posts, and on many occasions near misses drenched them with water, which swamped their guns, but never their ardour. The above mentioned Bombardier and Gunlayer were outstanding and set a wonderful example to their crews.’ Captain W. D. Mason, G.C., in his official report, following the miraculous arrival of the tanker Ohio at Grand Harbour, Valetta. The important Second War Operation ‘Pedestal’ D.S.M. group of seven awarded to Acting Bombardier R. H. H. Labern, Royal Artillery, 4th Maritime A.A. Regiment (R.A.), who commanded a Bofors section aboard the tanker Ohio Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (6202472 R. H. H. Labern. A/Bmbdr. R.A.) impressed naming; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, mounted as worn, nearly extremely fine (7) £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, February 2015. Just 51 D.S.M.s were awarded to Gunners of the Royal Artillery for services in Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships in the 1939-45 War. D.S.M. London Gazette 8 December 1942: ‘For bravery while serving in Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships on passage to Malta.’ The original recommendation, for an immediate D.C.M., states: ‘During the recent passage of a convoy to Malta, Bombardier Labern was Detachment Commander of a Bofors Gun on the M.V. Ohio. During a submarine attack a torpedo struck the vessel and caused a fire to break out on deck. Bombardier Labern organised the men under his command into a firefighting party and in the face of great danger succeeded in extinguishing the fire. The ship was dive-bombed and attacked by E-Boats on numerous occasions. Throughout this N.C.O. stood by his gun and showed great personal courage.’ Out of 161 D.E.M.S. Gunners employed in Operation ‘Pedestal’ 28 were killed in action. Reginald Henry Holswatt Labern was ultimately awarded the D.S.M., an award approved by the Vice-Admiral Malta, no doubt on the back of the above quoted statement made by Captain W. D. Mason, G.C. He received his decoration at an investiture held in February 1944. The importance of Operation ‘Pedestal’ needs no introduction here, Winston Churchill himself requesting regular updates as to the convoy’s progress, but for the record’s sake it is worth registering the bare facts: of the 14 merchantmen that set out, nine were sunk and three damaged, while the Senior Service’s input of 59 escorts, the largest such force ever assembled in defence of a convoy, sustained losses of an aircraft carrier, a cruiser and a destroyer, as well as having another half a dozen ships damaged. But of all the participating vessels, it was the tanker Ohio that captured the headlines, her survival and vital cargo of fuel allowing Malta to continue her grim defence. In the final 60 hours of her epic voyage, prior to her triumphant entry into Valetta on 15 August 1942, she received no less than seven direct hits and 20 near-misses. Her Master, of course, was awarded the George Cross, the citation for which honour makes specific mention of his ship’s gunners: ‘During the passage to Malta of an important convoy Captain Mason’s ship suffered most violent onslaught. She was a focus of attack throughout and was torpedoed early one night. Although gravely damaged, her engines were kept going and the Master made a magnificent passage by handsteering and without a compass. The ship’s gunners helped to bring down one of the attacking aircraft. The vessel was hit again before morning, but though she did not sink, her engine room was wrecked. She was then towed. The unwieldy condition of the vessel and persistent enemy attacks made progress slow, and it was uncertain whether she would remain afloat. All next day progress somehow continued and the ship reached Malta after a further night at sea. The violence of the enemy could not deter the Master from his purpose. Throughout he showed skill and courage of the highest order and it was due to his determination that, in spite of the most persistent enemy opposition, the vessel, with her valuable cargo, eventually reached Malta and was safely berthed’ (London Gazette 8 September 1942 refers). The Ohio, an oil tanker built for the Texas Oil Company in 1940, first arrived in U.K. waters in June 1942, soon after which she was turned over to a British crew under the auspices of the British Eagle Oil and Shipping Company, for she was already earmarked for the Malta-run. Her new Master was Dudley Mason, in command of 77 men, no less than 24 of them R.N. and Army Gunners to man the tanker’s newly installed 5-inch A. A. gun aft and a 3-inch A.A. gun in the bows, in addition to an array of Oerlikon guns. Captain Mason having attended a special conference, Ohio departed the Clyde with her fellow ‘Pedestal’ merchantmen and a naval escort on 2 August 1942, the tanker laden with 11,500 tons of kerosene and diesel fuel oils. Gibraltar was reached without incident on the 10th, but thereafter, the convoy entered the “killing zone”, an early casualty being the aircraft carrier Eagle, torpedoed on the 11th with a loss of 260 officers and men. From now on the merchantmen, and Ohio in particular, were subjected to relentless attack, from U-Boats and Italian submarines, the Luftwaffe and Regio Aeronautica, and from Axis surface vessels. On 12 August a combined enemy force of 100 aircraft struck at the merchantmen, the likes of Labern and his fellow D.E.M.S. Gunners undoubtedly being kept busy, but Ohio ultimately fell victim to the Italian submarine Axum, which delivered an accurate torpedo attack amidst the chaos and carnage of the ongoing air strike. Ohio was hit amidships, a huge column of flame leaping high-up above mast level. The resultant damage included a hole in her port side, measuring 24 by 27 feet, a gaping hole in her buckled deck, and the loss of steering gear and compass. No less concerning was the kerosene seeping through the damaged tanks. Here, then, as cited, the moment Labern and his men fought the blaze, while Mason and his crew rigged up emergency steering gear from aft, the tanker even reaching 13 knots, fortuitous progress given pending events. Nearing Pantelleria, Ohio was marked out for the special attention of 60 Stukas, bombs and machine-gun fire raking her decks, the 3-inch A.A. gun in the bows being put out of action but Labern and the D.E.M.S. Gunners breaking up some of the approaching formations and downing at least one enemy aircraft, the wreckage of which crashed into Ohio’s starboard side, half of one wing smashing into the upper work of the bridge. But the enemy aircraft kept on coming, two sticks of bombs straddling the tanker and lifting her clean out of the water and others stopping her engines on two occasions, the resultant periods of “restarting” leaving her a sitting duck. In fact, at one stage, most of the crew were taken off by H.M.S. Penn, only to be returned the following day when it was decided to take the stricken tanker in tow. Yet again, however, the Ohio was hit, a bomb falling near the original damage caused her by the Axum’s torpedo strike and reducing her to 4 or 5 knots; a preliminary damage report revealed that she had almost certai...
The unique Brunei D.S.M. pair awarded to Petty Officer Mechanician P. J. D. Kirwin, Royal Navy, Stoker Petty Officer of the leading lighter at the opposed Royal Marines Commando raid against heavily armed Indonesian supported rebels at Limbang, Brunei, on 12 December 1962, who, ‘when his craft came under heavy fire, left the safety of his engine room, grasped his automatic weapon, and engaged the rebels himself at very close range’ - one of just four D.S.M.s awarded to the Royal Navy in the period from the Korean War in 1953 until the Falklands War in 1982 Distinguished Service Medal, E.II.R., 2nd issue (P/KX.869578 P. J. D. Kirwin. P.O.M. (E) R.N.); Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Brunei (KX.869578 P. J. D. Kirwin. P.O.M. (E). R.N.) this with officially re-impressed naming, extremely fine (2) £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: Dix Noonan Webb, May 2022. D.S.M. London Gazette 31 May 1963: ‘For gallant and distinguished services in operations in Brunei during the period 8th to 23rd December 1962.’ Up to 1962, the island of Borneo was divided into the vast southern area under Indonesian rule and three British dependencies, Sarawak, North Borneo and, sandwiched between them, the tiny but very wealthy protectorate of Brunei. With the sun gradually setting on British interests in this part of the Far East, a proposal to include these three northern Borneo states into the new Federation of Malaysia was opposed by Indonesia which then proceeded to back the dissident TNKU in mounting an insurrection in Brunei with the aim of maintaining a North Borneo Union. To further this, in December 1962 the rebels occupied several towns, including Brunei town and at Limbang across the border in Sarawak, they held a number of hostages, including the British Government’s Agent - the ‘Resident’, ‘Dick’ Morris - his wife and a nursing sister. There were indications that the hostages were to be executed on 12 December. At this time 42 Commando, who were awaiting Christmas in Singapore, were put on short notice, and two days later ‘L’ Company, under Captain Jeremy Moore (later to command British Land Forces during the Falklands War), flew to Brunei Town where the Gurkhas had restored order. In fact, most of the trouble had been quickly stamped out, except at Limbang, only accessible by river. Tasked with rescuing the Limbang hostages, Moore’s urgency was further sharpened when it was learned that the TKNU had murdered some hostages at Bangar. At the waterfront in Brunei he met the Senior Naval Officer, Lieutenant-Commander J. J. Black (who by coincidence would also rise to senior command during the Falklands War as Captain of the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Invincible) who had requisitioned two Z-Lighter landing craft for the raid, the Nakhoda Manis and the Sindaun, and provided these with five man crews from the minesweepers Fiskerton and Chawton under his command. Lieutenant Willis, being Black’s First Lieutenant, was appointed as the Senior Naval Officer charged with ensuring that the task force arrived off Limbang but once the assault landing was under way, the lighters would then come under the tactical direction of the senior Royal Marine on board. None of the Royal Navy men under Willis had any experience in handling Z-Craft or landing craft operations but they were now being committed to the daunting prospect of an opposed landing. At 10pm on 11 December, the understrength ‘L’ Company of 87 men, faces blackened, all wearing green berets with glinting cap badges for identification, filed on to the waiting Z-Craft. On board the lead lighter, Nakhoda Manis - commanded by Willis - was Captain Moore, his reconnaissance group, part of Company HQ, and 5 Troop. Also aboard as guide was Captain Muton, the Brunei Director of Marine who would later receive the M.B.E. for his efforts and four more Royal Navy crew including Petty Officer Mechanician Kirwin. The assault went in at first light: ‘When they were 300yds from the Limbang police station, and as the leading craft came abreast of the huts south of the town,‘it erupted like a disturbed ants' nest as the rebels stood to’. At 200yds the Commando Intelligence Sergeant called through the loud-hailer in Malay: ‘The rebellion is over . . . you should lay down your arms.' They replied with automatic weapons - an LMG, three or four SMGs - and some dozen rifles, supported by over 100 shotguns. The instantaneous counter-fire from both craft gave the commandos, thanks to their Vickers machine-guns, the initiative, enabling the leading craft to beach half a minute later only 30yds from the police station. Two marines of the leading No.5 Troop were killed before the craft gained the bank and their OC, Lt ‘Paddy’ Davis, was wounded as he jumped ashore. Sgt Bickford led two Sections of the Troop against the police station, which was quickly cleared, but the naval coxswain of the leading craft had been wounded and as the craft drifted off the bank, Lt D.O. Willis, RN, drove it hard back ashore; but this shallow draught lighter broached to 150yds upstream between the hospital and the home of the British Resident. Capt Moore sent the reserve section ashore, with HQ personnel led by TSM McDonald, and they cleared the hospital. As they came through to the back of this building, the Troop sergeant and two marines were killed, ‘for the jungle comes literally right down to the back door of the hospital’. The grounding of the craft up-river had been a fortunate accident, for Capt Moore found some of the hostages in the hospital. A rebel had fired at them but missed, and no one was hurt. While the ground between the hospital and the police station was being cleared, as was the Resident’s house, the Company Commander was told of more hostages. Therefore, he organised the clearing of the rest of the town to the south, and by the afternoon had released another eight hostages but at nightfall there were still rebels inside the Company’s perimeter, two of whom were killed close to the marines’ positions. Next day the town was secured. Five marines had been killed and six wounded (including a sailor), but the action here, coupled with those of the Gurkhas and Queen's Own Highlanders elsewhere in Brunei, had broken the rebellion. At Limbang alone 15 rebels had been killed and 50 captured from a force of 350, - twice the expected size. They had been taken by surprise, as the commandos now discovered. The Vickers guns in the second craft had been masked, the Company Commander also learnt, by the leading craft, until QMS Cyril Quoins asked the officer commanding this lighter if he could pull out of line to give them a clearer shot. ‘Sergeant Major’, the officer replied, ‘Nelson would have loved you’, and promptly swung his craft into a more exposed position.’ (The Royal Marines by James D. Ladd refers.) It is also worth quoting Captain Jeremy Moore’s observations, made much later: ‘It is perhaps interesting to note that, though my assessment of where the enemy headquarters might be was right, I was quite wrong about the hostages. Furthermore, it was chance that the second beaching happened where it did, that resulted in us taking the hospital from the direction we did. It could be that this saved us heavier casualties, though I assess the most important factor in the success of the operation was first class leadership by junior NCOs. Their section battle craft was a joy to watch and the credit for this belongs to the troop and Section commanders.’ Moore received a Bar to the Military C...
The Second War submariner’s D.S.M. group of four awarded to Stoker 1st Class R. E. W. Currell, Royal Navy, who died on the occasion of the loss of H.M.S. Parthian in the Mediterranean in August 1943 Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (KX.107159 R. E. W. Currell. Sto.) impressed naming; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45, mounted as worn, nearly xtremely fine (4) £1,400-£1,800 --- 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 1999. D.S.M. London Gazette 7 September 1943: ‘For bravery and skill in successful patrols in H.M. Submarine Parthian.’ The original recommendation states: ‘This man has at all times performed his duty at sea with great efficiency. His reliable character and cheerfulness rendered valuable assistance in evading a severe depth charge attack.’ Ronald Ernest William Currell was born in Southwark, London, on 19 February 1920. Already associated with matters nautical, being a capstan fitter on the outbreak of hostilities, young Currell volunteered for the ‘Silent Service’ in January 1941. Duly qualified and rated as a Stoker, he joined the submarine H.M.S. Parthian in August 1941, then under Lieutenant-Commander M. G. Rimington, D.S.O., R.N. Parthian, however, was on her way to the U.S.A. for a major refit and did not return to sea until February 1942, this time under Lieutenant-Commander D. St. Clair-Ford, R.N. Currell’s subsequent award of the D.S.M. was made in respect of Parthian’s war patrols in the Eastern Mediterranean in the period July 1942 to June 1943, when she was commanded not only by St. Clair-Ford, R.N. but also by Lieutenant M. B. St. John, R.N. Under St. Clair-Ford, Parthian was engaged on the Malta supply run, carrying aviation fuel and ammunition to the beleaguered island, in addition to numerous passengers and, on one occasion, ‘a dachshund dog for the Princess Ali Khan’. Such patrols, at least six of them in the period leading up to November, were undertaken from Gibraltar and Beirut and in the last of them St. Clair-Ford attacked an Italian merchantman. In retaliation, a gunboat escort dropped 23 depth charges, some of them close enough to cause damage. Later in the same month, command of the Parthian devolved to Lieutenant M. B. St. John, D.S.C., R.N., who carried out a flurry of successful patrols in the Aegean in the new year. In one of them, in March-April 1943, Parthian boarded a number of caiques, some of which were afterwards destroyed by gunfire, and bombarded a resin factory in the Gulf of Kassandra. On the latter occasion, according to a wartime newspaper report, ‘storage tanks blew up and huge pieces of metal rose three hundred feet into the air before crashing through the roofs of nearby warehouses. The crew shot accurately and deliberately for an hour, and when they left fires were blazing fiercely and dense clouds of smoke stretched for fifteen miles downwind.’ During her third patrol, in April-May 1943, a 50-ton caique was sunk by gunfire off the island of Kos. Later, however, Parthian paid dearly for a brave but inconclusive gunfight with an escort vessel in the Dorso Channel, when opposing ships dropped some 70 depth charges. Here, then, surely, the moment referred to in the recommendation for Currell’s D.S.M. Lucky to escape that episode with relatively minor damage, she went on to execute a successful bombardment of the Salonica railway line at Heraklion, her guns destroying or damaging a number of railway trucks, station buildings, and a signal box, in addition to two caiques. At length, after a rating gun-layer had been mortally wounded, she was compelled to dive. In his official report on the action Lieutenant St. John noted that ‘everyone on the bridge got peppered with splinters … and a whole bullet fell out of the First Lieutenant’s trousers at breakfast next morning.’ Parthian’s activities also included clandestine work, a patrol in early May 1943 incorporating the landing of three embarked passengers at Makri Yalo Bay on the south-east coast of Crete on the night of the 2nd. They were likely operatives of the I.S.L.D., M.I. 6’s Middle Eastern section. In late June 1943, Lieutenant C. A. Pardoe, R.N.R., assumed command of Parthian but, after one patrol, she was lost with all hands on, or about 11 August 1943, most likely a victim of a mine. Currell was just 23 years old at the time of his death. The son of James and Florence Currell of Burnt Oak, Middlesex, he is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial. Sold with a file of copied 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 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 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 rare Great War Lake Nyasa operations D.S.M. group of five awarded to Chief Petty Officer E. C. Mitchell, Royal Navy, who having survived the loss of H.M.S. Pegasus in her famous clash with the Konigsberg in September 1914, was seconded to the Lake Nyasa Flotilla, in which he ‘displayed much ability in drilling the native boat crews to a very creditable state of efficiency’ in the ex-missionary steamer Gwendolen Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (204906 E. C. Mitchell. P.O. H.M.S. Gwendolen.); 1914-15 Star (204906 E. C. Mitchell. P.O. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (204906 E. C. Mitchell. P.O. R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (204906 E. C. Mitchell Act. C.P.O. H.M.S. Hyacinth) edge bruising and contact marks, otherwise nearly 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: Spink, April 2004. D.S.M. London Gazette 24 February 1916. The original recommendation states: ‘H.M.S. Gwendolen Lake Tanganyika, whose shooting was of a very high standard rendered the redoubt untenable in the morning engagement, and hampering the enemy’s movements during the afternoon engagement. Petty Officer Mitchell displayed much ability in drilling the native boat crews to a very creditable state of efficiency, and it was largely due to his efforts that a rapid and safely conducted embarkation was achieved.’ Ernest Charles Mitchell was born in Plymouth, Devon on 3 February 1884 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in June 1899. By the outbreak of hostilities, he had been advanced to Petty Officer and was serving in the cruiser H.M.S. Pegasus, and he was likewise employed at the time of her memorable action with the Konigsberg off Zanzibar on 20 September 1914. In the lead up to her final action, Pegasus had bombarded the customs house at Bagamoyo in German East Africa, when the port authorities refused to agree to a truce. Less than a month later, on 20 September 1914, her consorts Hyacinth and Astraea having been called away, she was undergoing repairs at the port of Zanzibar when she fell victim to a surprise attack launched by the Konigsberg. Deeds That Thrill the Empire takes up the story: ‘For twenty-five minutes the Konigsberg poured in her relentless broadside, steaming slowly in until she had reduced the range from nine thousand to seven thousand yards; and still the shells of the Pegasus failed to reach her. The shot fell harmlessly into the water hundreds of yards short of the enemy cruiser. The poor little Pegasus was in a bad way from the start. The enemy’s shooting was not good, but with the advantage of range they were able to take their own time, and the British ship soon began to suffer severely. One of the first to be hit was the gunnery officer, Lieutenant Richard Turner, whose legs were shattered by a shell. As he lay stricken and bleeding to death his thoughts were all for the honour of his ship and his service “Keep it up, lads,” he said to his men. “We’re outclassed and done for; but d--- them, and keep it up!” So, having asked for brandy and a cigarette, Lieutenant Turner died; but the men “kept it up.” In fifteen minutes all the guns of the Pegasus had been silenced and not one of their shells had reached the enemy, whose guns had a range greater by two thousand yards. The cruiser’s flag was shot away from its staff. Instantly a Marine ran forward, seized the flag, and waved it aloft; and when he was struck down another came and took his place. The flag flew until the end. There was no braver man that day than the medical officer of the Pegasus, Staff-Surgeon Alfred J. Hewitt. Nearly all the casualties occurred on deck, and there he was from the start to the finish, giving what help he could to the wounded men. On one occasion he was holding a ruptured artery in the neck of one man, and, with his other hand, stanching the flow of blood in the leg of another, while his assistants went for bandages. He could do nothing to help in the fighting, but there was certainly no braver man in the ship. When she had fired about two hundred shells, the Konigsberg withdrew, leaving the Pegasus a battered and fast sinking wreck. At the beginning of the action there were 234 officers and men on board the British vessel, and of these 35 were killed and 53 wounded … ’ In a controversial decision, Commander R. Ingles, R.N., Pegasus’s captain, had in fact struck her colours to avoid further bloodshed, but his action was ignored by the Konigsberg. Among the survivors, Mitchell was borne on the books of the Hyacinth and selected for special duties on Lake Nyasa. The lake had already witnessed the first naval engagement of the Great War, when H.M.S. Gwendolen, an ex-missionary steamer which had hastily been converted for use as a gunboat, attacked the German gunboat Hermann von Wissmann on 14 August 1914. The latter was on a slipway at Sphinxhafen and sustained serious damage. Mitchell was otherwise occupied aboard the Pegasus at that time, but he was clearly present in future actions fought on the lake, the first of them following the arrival of Lieutenant-Commander G. H. Dennistoun, R.N.V.R., who took command of a budding British flotilla, including the captured German tug Helmuth. And that action took place on 30 May 1915, after local fishermen reported that the Hermann von Wissmann was under repair. Gwendolen landed a detachment of Askaris, who secured the area, prior to charges being placed on the enemy gunboat, and further action being taken by way of gunfire. The recommendation for Mitchell’s D.S.M. certainly appears to fit this action, rather than a later quoted date in December 1915 on Lake Tanganyika. Be that as it may, the Germans once more set about restoring the von Wissmann to operational fitness, thus resulting in another visit by the Gwendolen to their lake shore base at Spinxhafen. A boarding party of Askaris found the enemy gunboat unmanned and, taken in tow by Gwendolen, it was re-christened ‘H.M.S. King George V’ of the Royal Navy’s Nyasa Flotilla. Dennistoun and the flotilla remained actively employed until his return home in 1918, assisting in the transportation of supplies for our land forces. He was awarded the D.S.O. For his own part, Mitchell was gazetted for his D.S.M. in February 1916, added the L.S. & G.C. Medal to his accolades in September 1917, and appears to have remained actively employed on the East Africa station until returning to an appointment in Vivid in June 1918. He was finally pensioned ashore in February 1924. Sold with an original letter from the recipient, written in January 1964, in which he explains the background to the Lake Nyasa operations, and his part in them.
‘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...
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