Life Saving Awards 537
Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, G.IV.R., silver, the outer silver rim engraved (Lieut. Mattw. Combe, R.N. Voted 12 Marh. 1845) fitted with small rings for suspension, very fine
£300-£400 Lieutenant Matthew Combe, R.N., Chief Officer H.M. Coastguard, No. 2 Battery, Dungeness. Voted 12 March 1845:
‘31 January 1845: The vessel William Harribgton, outward bound, grounded at Dungeness, Kent, at 9 a.m. in a severe snow storm at low water. When the weather cleared, she was seen by Lieutenant Combe who launched the Coastguard galley with four of his men. The sea was running very high and the north wind was strengthening, but the galley carried a short way over the sands at half water and got alongside. A rope was passed on board the vessel but the sea upset the galley, and the Coastguards were thrown into the water except for Lieutenant Combe who clung to the vessel’s side. Two of the men were drowned, whilst the other two succeeded in getting hold of a rope and were saved. With the assistance of No. 1 Battery’s boat and two Deal boats, the William Harrington was refloated later and taken to Portsmouth for repairs.’
Matthew Combe was born at Newhaven, Edinburgh, and entered the Navy on 30 June 1808. He passed for Lieutenant on 3 August 1814, but had to wait another 11 years before he received his commission as Lieutenant on 27 May 1825. He was appointed to the Coastguard on 9 January 1838, and died in 1847 according to the obituary section of the December 20th Navy List of that year.
538
A Board of Trade Sea Gallantry Medal and Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society Medal group of three awarded to Captain H. W. Broadbent, Royal Naval Reserve and Merchant Marine, who was Extra Second Officer of the S.S. Esturia at the rescue of the crew of the S.S. Millfield, 11 December 1897
Board of Trade Medal for Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea, V.R., large, silver (Harvey W. Broadbent wreck of the “Millfield” on the 11th December 1897.); Royal Naval Reserve Decoration,
E.VII.R., silver, hallmarks for London 1909; Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society, Marine Medal, 3rd type, silver (Mr. H. W. Broadbent, Exta. 2nd Offcr. S.S. Etruria. For Assisting in the Rescue of the Crew of S.S. Millfield, Dec.10.1897) minor edge nicks to first, gilding completely rubbed from second, very fine (3)
£400-£500
Harvey William Broadbent was born in 1864 at Sealand, Flintshire, the son of John Broadbent, Consul of the Rhine Provinces, Dusseldorf. He joined the Mercantile Marine Schoolship Conway at Rockferry, Birkenhead, as a Cadet in 1880 and was commissioned Midshipman in the Royal Naval Reserve on 30 July 1883. In his early career he entered the Bibby Line as master in 1891, saw service in the China Squadron with the Royal Naval Reserve, and was later with the Cunard Steam Ship Company.
Broadbent was awarded both the Board of Trade Silver Medal for Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea and the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society Marine Medal in recognition of his services, together with nine other men of the S.S. Esturia, in rescuing the shipwrecked crew of the S.S. Millfield, of Whitby, which was abandoned in the North Atlantic Ocean on the 11 December 1897. For his services in leading the rescue, the Master of the Esturia, Mr. John Ferguson, was awarded a piece of Silver Plate by the Board of Trade and a Gold Marine Medal from the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society for his services.
Broadbent returned to take command of the Conway from 1903 until 1927, and was placed on the retired list of the Royal Naval Reserve in 1909 with permission to assume the rank of Commander, advancing to Captain (Retired) in June 1914. He died in Devon in 1943. A portrait photograph of Broadbent is held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.
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