Orders, Decorations and Medals

Royal Humane Society, small bronze medal (successful) (Frederick John Davis, 15th May 1882), with second award bar, this dated ‘15 July 1884’, in damaged Warrington, London fitted case of issue, the suspension claw slightly damaged and detached from medal, otherwise very fine £100-150

Sold with copied extracts from the R.H.S. case book, from which the following details are taken:

R.H.S. Medal: On the 15 May 1882 at the Royal Albert Dock, London, a man was holding a truck on which a piston was resting, the load slipping off, the truck handles flew back, struck the man and knocked him into the dock. Mr Davis (4th Officer of the P. & O. Steamship Rome) jumped from a height of ten feet, and brought the man to the surface of the water. The salvor did not wait to divest himself of clothes. The water is said to be in a polluted state.

Second award bar: On the 15 July 1884 at the Royal Albert Docks, London, a lad fell into the dock between the barge and the landing stage, he sank at once. The salvor, Mr Davis (2nd Officer of the P. & O. Royal Mail Steamer Poonah) at once jumped off the stage, caught hold of the boy just below the surface of the water, and fastened a rope around his body, by which he was drawn up. The salvor is under medical treatment in consequence of the impurity of the water.