Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., V.R., wide suspension (J. Jones, A.B., H.M.S. Hannibal, 31 Yrs.), engraved naming, edge nicks, good very fine £250-300

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals for Services at Sea from the Collection of the Late Oliver Stirling Lee.

View
Collection

John Jones entered the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman in December 1828, aged 24 years, his first given rate suggesting that he already had previous experience of the “trade of the sea”. His subsequent stints of active service comprised time aboard H.M.S. Rodney as an Able Seaman in the Syria operations of 1840, and as a Bandsman aboard the Neptune during the Baltic operations of 1854-55. Jones was awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in December 1861, the same month in which he was pensioned ashore; accompanying notes made by the late Captain K. J. Douglas-Morris, R.N., estimate that fewer than 150 such awards were issued with an inscribed length of service in excess of 30 years, and that with an average survival rate of around 10%, it is unlikely there are more than a dozen or so such examples available to collectors today.