Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (K. 65282 L. A. Webb, L. Sto., H.M.S. Gloucester) nearly extremely fine £100-120

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

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Lesley Ashwin Webb was serving in the Hunt-class destroyer H.M.S. Holcombe on 12 December 1943, when she was torpedoed and sunk by the U-593 off the Algerian coast, going down in ‘four minutes and 19 seconds with the loss of 84 lives’, Webb’s included. He left a widow resident at Taunton, Devon.

Webb had earlier seen action in the cruiser Gloucester, having departed her in early May 1941 just prior to her loss off Crete, a period that had witnessed her participation in the actions of Calabria and Matapan, in addition to several early Malta convoys. Several times hit by enemy bombs, with resultant casualties, including the loss of her Captain in July 1940, the Gloucester was finally sunk by several hits while positioned in the Kithera Channel on 1 May 1941, with the loss of 730 men.