Auction Catalogue

27 June 2007

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations and Medals

Washington Mayfair Hotel  London  W1J 5HE

Lot

№ 664

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27 June 2007

Hammer Price:
£600

Four: Able Seaman F. Chittenden, Royal Navy, killed in action when H.M.S. Hogue was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-9, 22 September 1914

China 1900, no clasp (A.B., H.M.S. Pigmy); 1914-15 Star (188140 A.B., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (186140 A.B., R.N.) good very fine and better (4) £240-280

Frank Chittenden was born in Ashford, Kent, on 25 July 1878. A Butcher’s Boy by occupation, he enlisted into the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in October 1896. He served aboard the gunboat Pigmy, January 1899-May 1902, during which time he served in the Third China War. Pigmy landed many of her small company to secure the forts at Shan-hai-Kwan in October 1900; Chittenden may well have been involved in the landing. Completing his service in August 1908, he joined the Royal Fleet Reserve in March the following year. Mobilised for war service, he was killed in action on 22 September 1914 when the armoured cruiser Hogue was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-9 in the North Sea. A native of Folkestone, Kent; he was the husband of L. M. Ralph (formerly Chittenden) of 27 Prospect Place, Swindon. His name is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial.

The
Aboukir, together with her sister ships the Hogue and Cressy, part of the 7th Cruiser Squadron, were engaged in blockade and patrol duties in the southern part of the North Sea. At 6.30 on 22 September 1914 the Aboukir was torpedoed by the U-9. Believing that the ship had struck a mine, the Hogue and Cressy stopped to rescue the survivors, oblivious of the danger lurking beneath the waves. Shortly afterwards torpedoes from the U-9 sent the Hogue and then the Cressy to the bottom. The loss of life in this disaster was heavy, with some 1,400 men being lost from the three ships. Sold with copied service paper.