Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, 2 clasps, Alexandria 11th July, Tel-El-Kebir (T. E. Mockford, Lg. Sea. H.M.S. “Penelope”) some light pitting, otherwise better than very fine £400-450

Ex Douglas-Morris Collection of Naval Medals, February 1997.

Thomas Mockford was born in Eastbourne, Sussex, on 1 January 1861. He entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class aboard H.M.S. St Vincent on 9 August 1876, serving later aboard Monarch (1878-January 1882) where he was advanced to Ord in April 1879 and to A.B. in July 1880, and made a Leading Seaman in Duncan in April 1882. He gained his Egyptian rewards aboard Penelope (22 June 1882 until 1 November 1882), took part in the bombardment of Alexandria in July 1882 and fought at the Battle of Tel-El-Kebir aboard the Naval Armoured Train manned by the crew of Penelope, from 11 June until 1 November 1882. He subsequently served aboard Daring (1883-88) as a Petty Officer 2nd Class (September 1883), Petty Officer 1st Class (November 1887) followed by two years aboard Vernon (1889-91) where he was awarded his L.S. & G.C. medal on 27 February 1891, and received promotion to Acting Boatswain R.N. on 23 September 1891.

In addition to the Naval ‘Armoured Train’ manned by seamen and marines from Hecla and Invincible, there were two other offensively armed devices operating in this Egyptian war zone. Often referred to as ‘Armed Trains’, they were in reality no more than specially armed trucks, one manned by seamen and the other by marines, which saw service at Kassassin and Tel-El-Kebir. The seamen’s four-wheeled gun-truck had steel plated sides that were ‘fairly bullet-proof’, with sandbags hung around the car outside. An awning was fitted to this open topped truck on which was fitted a 40-pounder gun. A separate box-car similarly fitted with steel side plates and sandbags had two compartments for the 230 shells (mostly shrapnel) and charges, entrance to each magazine being only from the top.

Since no steam trains could be obtained, this armed contrivance, manned by seamen from Penelope, was pulled from Ismalia to Nefiche by 16 horses, four abreast, on 26 August 1882. Immediately ahead of this ‘Armoured Train’ was another truck on which a captured 8cm Krupp gun had been mounted and worked by Royal Marine Artillery men under Captain Tucker R.M.A. On 1 September it was taken to Kassassin and participated in an action on the 9th September in defence of Kassassin Camp against an Egyptian reconnaissance party. The officer in charge of this ‘Armoured Train’, Lieutenant C. K. Purvis, R.N., and his 2nd in command, Sub Lieut James Erskine, with a party of twenty blue-jackets had been working the train on the line a little beyond the camp, when the enemy turned their guns on it. Purvis and Erskine had dismounted from the train to take some observations and were standing close together when a shell burst near them, striking Purvis in the foot and tearing a portion of it off, necessitating immediate amputation at the ankle joint. Command of this ‘Armoured Train’ passed to Lieutenant F. E. W. Lambart, R.N., but it was never engaged after 9 September, and on 23 September the crew from Penelope were re-embarked.