CAMPAIGN GROUPS AND PAIRS 1483
Four: Chief Yeoman of the Signals F. C. Donno, Royal Navy, a veteran of an earlier encounter with Hipper’s cruiser squadron off Yarmouth in November 1914, who won the approbation of Their Lordships for his subsequent deeds on the occasion of the loss of the destroyer Contest
1914-15 STAR (220551 F. C. Donno, L. Sig., R.N.); BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS (220551 F. C. Donno, Y.S., R.N.); ROYAL NAVY L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 2nd issue (220551 F. C. Donno, Yeo. Sigs., H.M.S. Highflyer), mounted as worn, contact marks and polished, thus good fine or better (4)
£140-180
Frederick Clarence Donno was born in Islington, London, in January 1887 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in May 1902.
A Leading Signalman aboard the destroyer H.M.S. Lively by the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he quickly saw action when his ship, in company with the Halcyon and Leopard, came under 11-inch gunfire from the German Battle Cruiser Squadron off Yarmouth on 3 November, the first of several enemy raids on England’s east coast towns - such was the screen of splashes caused by the enemy’s gunfire that he was unable to take advantage of the situation and only Halcyon took a hit.
Removing to the destroyer Contest in June 1916, Donno remained similarly employed up until her loss on 18 September 1917, when she was torpedoed while going to the rescue of the crippled City of Lincoln - the torpedo struck right aft and detonated the depth charges, blowing off the ship’s stern. She went down stern first after an hour or so, but Donno was among the survivors, and he was commended by Their Lordships at the subsequent court of enquiry - having exchanged semaphore signals with the City of Lincoln at the height of the action, he was on the forecastle when the torpedo struck Contest, and was forced to take cover from flying debris.
Donno went on to serve in four more destroyers before the War’s end, namely the Wakeful, Pylades, Orford and Talisman, and was awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in October 1920. Advanced to Chief Yeoman of the Signals in February 1926, he was finally pensioned ashore in the following year; sold with a file of research, including old picture postcards of the Lively and Contest, and copied typescript of the Admiralty court of enquiry proceedings into the loss of the latter ship.
1484
Four: Lance-Corporal R. C. Royal, Royal Marine Light Infantry, a veteran of Heligoland Bight 1914, Dogger Bank 1915 and Jutland - at which latter battle he suffered serious burns while serving in H.M.S. Princess Royal - and subsequently a survivor from a torpedoed Defensively Armed Merchant Ship
1914-15 STAR (Ch. 11798 Pte. R. C. Royal, R.M.L.I.); BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS (Ch. 11798 L. Cpl. R. C. Royal, R.M. L.I.); ROYAL NAVY L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (Ch. 11798 R. C. Royal, Private, R.M.L.I.), mounted as worn, the third with officially re-impressed naming, generally very fine (4)
£200-250
Robert Charles Royal was born in Battersea, London, in August 1883 and enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry in September 1900.
Drafted to the battle cruiser H.M.S. Princess Royal in September 1914, Royal was subsequently present at Heligoland Bight, Dogger Bank, when his ship obtained hits on the Blucher, and at Jutland, where, as verified by his service record, he was seriously wounded, suffering ‘burns of face and hands’. On the latter occasion, as part of the 1st Battle Cruiser Squadron, the Princess Royal took numerous hits and sustained over one hundred casualties. Her charismatic captain, Walter Cowan - that famous “fire-eater” who preferred to spend his leave in the trenches and wept when peace was declared, and who added a second D.S.O. to his accolades in the 1939-45 War with No. 2 Commando - summarised the damage inflicted on Princess Royal in the following terms:
‘In Princess Royal one turret was punched through the armour and out of action, two out of the three struts of the tripod mast carrying the control tower were shot through and the mast was consequently somewhat of an anxiety should the sea get up. Twenty-five percent of the auxiliary armament was also out of action from heavy shell bursts inside and below - one in the canteen, where 10,000 eggs were blown to pieces with the bodies of the two poor servers lying in the middle of the mess. Fore and aft, the upper deck casings and funnels were riddled with shell splinters, and there was a shell through the Admiral’s cabin. These damages are all I can recollect, and the engines were intact. We had over a hundred casualties.’
On recovering from his wounds, Royal was drafted for service in Defensively Armed Merchant Ships (D.A.M.S.), and he was serving in one such vessel, the Alice Marie, when she was torpedoed by the UB-31 off Start Point, Devon on 19 December 1917 - the ship sank but all hands were rescued. Post-war, he was awarded six shillings and a penny from the prize fund for the sinking of the Blucher, and he was finally discharged in August 1922.
Sold with a file of research. 1485 Three: Gunner W. Fry, Royal Field Artillery
1914-15 STAR (21584 Gnr., R.F.A.); BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS (21584 Gnr., R.A.); together with a MASONIC COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL 1717-1917, silver; ROYAL ARTILLERY PRIZE MEDAL, obverse, R.A. Badge, inscribed, ‘Gr. W. Fry’; reverse inscribed, ‘Salonika 1916-17 won by D/I Brigade R.F.A.’, 38mm. bronze medallion, reverse with pin fitting (lacking pin); OLD CONTEMPTIBLE LAPEL BADGE, bronze, generally good very fine (6)
£50-70 1486 Three: Warrant Officer Class 2 A. E. Gibson, Yorkshire Regiment
BRITISH WAR MEDAL 1914-20 (8312 W.O. Cl.2, York. R.); INDIA GENERAL SERVICE 1908-35, 1 clasp, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919 (8312 C.S. Mjr., York. R.) correction to service number; ARMY L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (4379072 W.O. Cl.II, Green Howards) correction to unit, very fine and better (3)
£90-120 With copied m.i.c. showing entitlement to British War Medal and India General Service Medal. 1487 Pair: Private F. J. Bullen, Hampshire Regiment
BRITISH WAR MEDAL 1914-20 (2614 PTE., HAMPS. R.); INDIA GENERAL SERVICE 1908-35, 1 clasp, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919 (241035 Pte., Hamps. R.) extremely fine (2)
£80-100
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