A very scarce Great War O.B.E. pair awarded to Miss Ida Mary Jermyn, Divisional Director, Women’s Royal Naval Service

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) 1st type, the reverse hallmarked London 1919; British War Medal (Deputy Div. Director, W.R.N.S) good very fine and very scarce (2) £300-350

O.B.E. (Military) London Gazette 9 May 1919: ‘In recognition of valuable services rendered during the War.’

The Royal Navy list for September 1918 shows Miss Jermyn as Divisional Director, Mediterranean. This division was the last such to be set up during the Great War whereby W.R.N.S. officers and ratings were employed in Malta, Gibraltar and Genoa, mostly on cypher duties, under the overall command of Divisional Director Ida Jermyn. Created in November 1917, the W.R.N.S. was in being for nineteen months before the Admiralty finally disbanded the service on 1 October 1919.