The Victory Medal awarded to Captain C. I. Prowse, Royal Navy, commanding officer of H.M.S. Queen Mary who was killed at the battle of Jutland when a German shell ignited Queen Mary’s magazines

Victory Medal 1914-19 (Capt. C. I. Prowse. R.N.) extremely fine £200-£300

Cyril Irby Prowse was appointed Captain of the battle cruiser Queen Mary on 13 October 1914. During the battle of Jutland she engaged the Derfflinger, putting one of her turrets out of action, and then scored four hits on SMS Seydlitz. The German battlecruiser hit back striking ´Q´ turret before sending more 12 inch shells to hit near ´A´ and ´B´ turrets before scoring another hit on ´Q´ turret. Queen Mary´s forward magazine exploded, the ship listed to port and began to sink amid more explosions with the loss of 1,245 men. There were just 18 survivors.

Prowse's younger brother, Brigadier-General Charles Bertie Prowse, C.B., D.S.O., was killed a month later on 1 July during the first day of the Battle of the Somme. He had decided to move his 11th Brigade headquarters into the captured German front line, and while assembling men of the Seaforth Highlanders in the British trenches he was shot in the back by machine gun fire.

The brothers are remembered on the Prowse window at St John the Baptist Parish Church, Yeovil, Somerset, and by a memorial tablet at St Mary Magdalene Church, Taunton, Somerset.