Five: Chief Petty Officer, W. F. Bowles, Royal Navy, who served in H.M.S. Caradoc in the Baltic Operations in 1919, and was awarded the Russian Cross of St. George Fourth Class

1914-15 Star (226883. W. F. Bowles, L.S., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (226883 W. F. Bowles. P.O. 1 R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 2nd issue, fixed suspension (226883. W. F. Bowles. P.O. H.M.S. Caradoc.); Russia, Empire, Cross of the Order of St George, Fourth Class, silver, the reverse officially numbered ‘870354’, contact marks and minor edge bruising, good fine and better (5) £300-£400

William Francis Bowles was born on 17 August 1887, at St. Luke’s, London. He commenced naval service as a Boy Second Class in H.M.S. Impregnable, on 14 July 1903, and was posted to H.M.S. Lion and advanced to Boy First Class on 25 February 1904. He was posted to H.M.S. Furious, on 27 July 1905, and advanced to Ordinary Seaman on 17 August 1905, and Able Seaman on 28 April 1906. He was appointed to H.M.S. Southampton on 26 November 1912, and further advanced to Leading Seaman on 3 June 1913, and Petty Officer, H.M.S. Victory I, on 1 March 1916. He served in H.M.S. Excellent from 13 April to 6 October 1916, when he was appointed to H.M.S. Plover.

Bowles joined the cruiser H.M.S. Caradoc in February 1919 and remained in her until January 1921. During this period Caradoc was employed in the Baltic operations of 1919 and participated in a prolonged and successful bombardment of Bolshevik forces in Estonia. Bowles was awarded the Russian Cross of St. George; as with many other similar decorations, his Cross of St. George was not gazetted. Similarly, it does not appear noted on his Certificate of Service, but the number ‘870354’ marries up with other known awards of the period, indeed a similar group to H.M.S. Caradoc, containing the Cross of St George, 4th Class, numbered ‘870352’, awarded to Victualling Chief Petty Officer W. A. Gollop, Royal Navy, was sold in these rooms in July 2003.

Bowles remained in naval service following the Great War and was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in September 1920. Promoted Chief Petty Officer, H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth, on 14 March 1925, he was shore pensioned from H.M.S. Victory I, on 16 August 1927 and was subsequently appointed to be Chief Petty Officer Seaman Instructor at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.