An extremely rare Great War D.S.O. group of five awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel O. H. K. Maguire, Royal Air Force, late Royal Navy and Royal Naval Air Service, who served as “Jimmy the One” of the Felixstowe seaplane station at the height of its famous “Spider Web” operations in 1917

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel; Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, Somaliland 1908-10 (Lieut. O. H. K. Maguire, R.N., H.M.S. Philomel), an official duplicate issue; 1914-15 Star (Lieut. O. H. K. Maguire, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Wg. Commr. O. H. K. Maguire, R.N.), mounted court-style as worn, together with a set of related miniature dress medals and uniform riband bar, the whole contained in a Gieves Ltd. red leather case, with gilt initials ‘O. H. K. M.’ to lid, generally good very fine (5) £3500-4000

D.S.O. London Gazette 1 October 1917:

‘For services on patrol duties and submarine searching in Home waters.’

The original recommendation states:

‘He has carried out his duties in a most loyal and capable manner, and has shown the greatest energy in carrying out the submarine patrols which have given such satisfactory results.’

Owen Hugh Knox Maguire was born near Dublin in September 1885 and entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet in May 1902. Advanced to Sub. Lieutenant in August 1905 and to Lieutenant in April 1908, he served in the operations off Somaliland in 1908-10 in H.M.S. Philomel, but was placed on the Retired List as unfit for further service in July 1910.

Recalled on the outbreak of hostilities, he commanded the gunboat Bustard during the bombardment of Westende on 6 September 1915, services which gained him special promotion to Lieutenant-Commander, while in January 1916, he transferred to Royal Naval Air Service. An it was in this latter capacity that he was posted to R.N.A.S. Felixstowe, from which base the famous “Spider Web” seaplane operations were launched over the North Sea, Maguire being appointed the base’s First Lieutenant and often assuming command in the absence of the C.O. Commander Porte, who was engaged in experimental seaplane research.

The “Spider Web” was the method of search employed by seaplane anti-submarine patrols operating out of Felixstowe, the “Web” lying across the usual route taken by enemy submarines, extending to 60 miles in diameter and a search area of 4000 square miles - it took a U-Boat 10 hours to cross the area in question at normal cruising speed. The “Web” proved highly successful, the period April 1917 to April 1918 witnessing the completion of over 600 patrols encompassing 105,000 nautical miles, the sighting of 47 U-Boats, of which 25 were attacked, and the destruction of a zeppelin.

In Squadron Leader T. D. Hallam’s history The Spider Web, Maguire is credited with running the base under naval routine, ‘the time being tapped off a bell, the ship’s company being divided into watches’. Indeed ‘the naval routine and discipline fitted the work of a seaplane station admirably, for the work approximated that of a ship, where drill is of secondary importance, and speed and skill and accuracy in carrying out a job of work is of the first importance.’ Thus events of 14 June 1917, when Maguire proved instrumental in getting duty pilots Billiken and Dickey in the air in double quick time, in response to a coded message regarding a Zeppelin - the L-43 was duly intercepted and shot down.

Having, too, himself ‘shown the greatest energy in carrying out the submarine patrols which have given such satisfactory results’, he was awarded the D.S.O., which insignia he received at a Buckingham Palace investiture held on 28 November 1917.

On the formation of the Royal Air Force in April 1918, Maguire was appointed a Lieutenant-Colonel, and at the time of his demobilisation in November 1919, was employed at the Air Ministry, though he appears to have been attached to the Royal Australian Navy in the interim. He died in April 1924.

Sold with an original letter from ‘Gerald Saurin’, dated 23 September 1917, in which he tells Maguire that he has been recommended for an award, and the recipient’s Officer’s Protection Certificate, in the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, dated 2 November 1919.