Orders, Decorations and Medals

The Whitworth Memorial Scholarship Prize Medal awarded to an officer casualty of the sinking of H.M.S. Indefatigable at the Battle of Jutland, bronze medal by Sir Edward Poynter and A. Wyon, bust left, rev. a machine tool, named on edge, 'Charles P Tanner, 1915', 57mm (BHM II, 2899), in red leather case of issue, extremely fine £80-120

Charles Philip Tanner was born at Cold Overton Rectory, Leicestershire in 1894 and was educated at the University of Glasgow where he gained a B.Sc. In 1915 he was awarded a Whitworth Memorial Scholarship. 30 Whitworth scholarships were awarded annually to the value of £100, for proficiency “in the theory and practice of mechanics”. Entering the Royal Navy as an Engineer Sub-Lieutenant, he was killed in action whilst serving aboard H.M.S. Indefatigable, at the battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916. Aged 22 years at the time of his death; he was the son of the Rev. George Alfred Tanner and Mrs Josephine Elizabeth Tanner, of Ebor House, Godwin Road, Hastings.

At the battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916, shortly after 4 p.m., during the ‘run to the south’, the battlecruiser Indefatigable, the rear ship of the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron, was struck by a salvo of three shots from the rearmost German battlecruiser, Von der Tann. The shells penetrated her aft magazines, caused an explosion, which forced her out of line, sinking by the stern. Another salvo then struck in the area of her forward turret; a second explosion followed and the ship turned over and quickly sank, killing all but two of her crew of 1,017.