Dix Noonan Webb
Lot 29
Four: Vice-Admiral C. J. Norcock, Royal Navy Jubilee 1887, 1 clasp, 1897, silver, unnamed as issued; Coronation 1902, silver, unnamed as issued; Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 3 clasps, Alexandria 11th July, Tel-El-Kebir, Suakin 1884 (Lieut: C. J. Norcock. R.N. H.M.S. “Hecla.”); Khedive’s Star, dated 1882, unnamed as issued, light contact marks, otherwise good very fine (4) £600-£800 --- Charles James Norcock was born in Plymouth in September 1847, the second son of Commander John Henry Norcock, R.N., and, having attended the Royal Naval School at New Cross and Britannia, was appointed a Sub. Lieutenant in 1867. Mentioned in despatches for his part in the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882, when he was employed as the Torpedo Lieutenant aboard H.M.S. Hecla: ‘12 August, sent with twenty blue-jackets and six marines to destroy gun-cotton, which he did successfully, partly under fire. Sir B. Seymour highly approves.’ He was subsequently employed ashore and present at Tel-el-Kebir, winning a second “mention” and being advanced to Commander: ‘Employed transporting wounded from Tel-el-Kebir to Kassassin. Commander Moore strongly recommends.’ Further active service followed in the Sudan operations of 1884, when, as Commander of the Hecla, he was present in the Suakin operations (Medal with three Clasps, Khedive’s Bronze Star). Following his advancement to Captain in 1889, Norcock enjoyed a succession of senior appointments, among them Commodore 2nd Class in command of the S.E. coast of the America Station and Assistant to the Admiral Superintendent of the Naval Reserve 1899-1902, following which he was placed on the Retired List as a Rear-Admiral. Soon afterwards, however, he was appointed to the Admiralty Volunteer Committee, in which capacity he served until 1904, and he received his final promotion in 1907, when he became a Vice-Admiral. Norcock died in March 1933.
