Pair: Chief Quarter Master J. Bew, Royal Navy

China 1857-60, no clasp, unnamed as issued; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., V.R., wide suspension (J. Bew. Chf. Qr. Mr. H.M.S. Victoria. 23 yrs.), good very fine (2) £500-£700

Provenance: Colonel Murray Collection (L.S. & G.C. only; catalogue published, 1882); Jack Deacon Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, June 2002 (pair)

Jesse Bew was born in Plymouth, Devon in February 1824 and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class aboard H.M.S. Cambridge in January 1841. Advanced to Ordinary Seaman in January 1846 and to Able Seaman one year later, he served aboard the Retribution in the Second China War and gained Petty Officer status with his appointment to Captain of the Maintop in the same ship in January 1859. Bew attained the rate of Chief Quarter-Master shortly before being pensioned ashore from the Victoria in May 1867, the same month that he received his L.S. & G.C. Medal.

Sold with copied research, including service record and entry from Colonel Murray’s published catalogue.