Orders, Decorations and Medals

Pair: Admiral A. Barrow, Royal Navy

India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Perak (Lieut., R.N., H.M.S. Charybdis); Coronation 1902, silver, minor contact marks, very fine and better (2) £400-450

Arthur Barrow was born on 25 March 1853, the son of Commander Arthur Barrow, R.N. He entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet aboard H.M.S. Britannia on 23 January 1866, aged 12 years 9 months. Advance to Midshipman in May 1867, he was appointed to the Victory and thence to the Minotaur in June. Service aboard the Galatea and Agincourt followed, being promoted to Sub-Lieutenant in March 1872. His next appointments were on the Excellent, June 1872 and Narcissus, September 1872. Whilst on the latter ship he was loaned to the Doris, March 1873 and Tenor, April 1873. Following promotion to Lieutenant in October 1873, he was appointed to the steam corvette Charybdis on the East Indies Station where the ship was engaged on patrol off the Malay coast. On 24 November 1874 the Charybdis carried the Administrator General Sir Andrew Clarke, K.C.M.G., and troops up the Likat River to reprimand the Malay Chief Bandar. The force which included a small Naval Brigade, composed of 6 officers (including Lieutenant Barrow) and 67 seamen and marines from Charybdis, landed on 26 November and following a difficult two days march arrived at Compayang, the headquarters of Bandar. The force was heavily engaged, being fired on from the stockade and surrounding bush, and having sustained several casualties, was forced to withdraw. On 30 November a further advance on Compayang was made, and on entering the stockade it was found that Bandar and his followers had fled. A number of guns were captured and the stockade was later destroyed. The Naval Brigade took part in a number of unsuccessful searches for the rebel chief and finally returned to the Charybdis on 10 January 1875. For these services the officers and crew of the Charybdis received the I.G.S. medal with clasp for ‘Perak’. Returning to England Barrow was next appointed to the Excellent to qualify in Gunnery and Torpedo, and on passing out in March 1877 he obtained two 1st Class Certificates. After service on the Bellerophon and Duke of Wellington, he returned to Excellent in April 1880 for duty as a Senior Staff Officer, and in January 1881 he was sent to the Elswick Factory of Sir W. Armstrong to study the principle and application of hydraulics, with the view of giving instruction to other naval officers. Whilst still on the Excellent. he was promoted to Commander in June 1883. After lecturing on hydraulics at the Royal Naval College, he was then appointed to the Temeraire in April 1884 and served in the Mediterranean. In March 1888 he was appointed to President for duty at the Admiralty as Assistant to the Director of Naval Ordnance, and whilst holding this appointment in December 1889, was promoted to Captain. In September 1890 he was appointed to the command of the cruiser Raleigh, flagship of the Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa. On paying off from the Raleigh in May 1892, he was appointed to the President for duty at the Admiralty as Assistant Director of Naval Intelligence. In May 1895 he was given command of the battleship Royal Sovereign and in December 1895 command of the battleship Majestic, the latter being the flagship of Vice Admiral Lord Walter Kerr, C-in-C., Channel Fleet. On leaving the Majestic in November 1897, Kerr said of him, ‘I can pay him no higher compliment than to say that if I ever hoist my flag again I should wish to have him with me’. After further service at the Admiralty as Assistant Director of Naval Intelligence, he was appointed to command of the battleship Royal George of the Channel Squadron. In January 1901 Barrow was appointed Captain of the Excellent - the Royal Navy’s Gunnery Training Establishment. On 11 August 1901 he was appointed A.D.C. to King Edward VII and commanded the Royal Naval Brigade at the 1902 Coronation and Royal Progress. He was promoted to Rear-Admiral in August 1903. With failing health he retired in February 1907 with the rank of Vice-Admiral. In April 1911 he was promoted to Admiral on the Retired List. Admiral Barrow died on 22 November 1914. Sold with a quantity of copied service papers and other research, also with one original and several copied photographs of the recipient.