Bonhams
Lot 15
NAVY – BONHAM FAMILYPapers of Admiral Charles Wright Bonham (1817-1910), his sons Captain Thomas Parry Bonham (1873-1916) and Lt. Col. Charles Barnard Bonham, D.S.O. (1871-1943) of the Royal Engineers, and his grandson Lieutenant Henry Thomas Robert Bonham (1904-1940), comprising: 'Journal of a Passage/ from/ Hong-Kong to England in/ 1846./ In H.M. Steam Sloop Vixen/ by/ Lieut. C.W. Bonham', daily entries include notes on the weather and the wildlife ('...the ship was very uneasy and rolled very heavily...we have not seen a sail in a run of about three thousand miles... several albatross in sight... exchanged colours with an American ship...'), with stops at Cape Town, St. Helena ('...much sickness... the church is pretty, so is the governors house...'), and Ascension Island ('...the greatest heaps of cinders & lava... fever, madness, dirt, drunkenness & desolation...'), with two landscape profiles drawn in pencil, 37 pages, green cloth, 4to (230 x 178mm.), March to June and November to December 1846; with various family documents including some twenty commissions dating from 1840 to 1926 (one signed 'Edward R & I', C.W. Bonham's certificate on retirement in 1878 signed 'Hood'), reports and passing out certificates from the Royal Naval College, certificates of service, letters of appointment, C.B. Bonham's certificate awarding him the D.S.O. in 1918 (signed 'George R.I.'), various awards, pocket account books 1895-1909, press cuttings etc.; a collection of medals and ribbons belonging to C.B. Bonham including two for shooting and one for football, his Altipiani medal, 1918 and empty box for the D.S.O.; c.30 photographs of the family, school teams, ships' crews and various vessels; circular oak snuff box with inset silver roundel engraved 'Captn Bonham HMS Victory 1860', with painted inscription inside ('Turned from/ a floor timber/ of/ HMS Victory/ built 1765'), diameter 107mm.; further miscellaneous papers including printed maps, menus, Christmas cards etc.; contained in a metal trunk bearing the painted name 'Lt. Col. C. B. Bonham' (quantity)Footnotes:AN ARCHIVE REPRESENTING THREE GENERATIONS OF DISTINGUISHED NAVAL SERVICE.These papers reveal the story of a family who gave their lives to the armed forces. Admiral Charles Wright Bonham enjoyed a long and successful career in the Navy. His younger son, Thomas Parry Bonham was one of the navy's brightest prospects, passing first in the 1885 naval examinations with, according to a notice included in the lot, 'more than one hundred marks in excess of the highest number on record'. He specialised in torpedo work and, during the Great War, took command of the mine-laying squadron and became inspector of mine-sweeping vessels. In early 1916 he was appointed captain of the Black Prince, which sank in action at the Battle of Jutland on 1 June that year with the loss of all hands. Admiral Bonham's elder son, Charles Barnard Bonham graduated from the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, joined the Royal Engineers and, for his war service, was twice mentioned in despatches and awarded the D.S.O. and the Italian Croce de Guerra. His grandsons also entered the Navy and were both killed in the Second World War. Henry Thomas Robert Bonham died from wounds received in action aboard HMS Fleetwood in June 1940. His brother Walter (see lot 149) saw action at the Battle of the River Plate and at Dunkirk before being killed in 1943.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
