Orders, Decorations and Medals

A fine mounted group of eleven miniature dress medals as worn by Captain G. C. P. Hewett, Royal Navy

Order of the British Empire, C.B.E., 2nd type, military division, silver-gilt and enamel; East and West Africa 1887-1900, 1 clasp, Sierra Leone 1898-99; 1914-15 Star; British War Medal 1914-20, 5 clasps, North Sea 1914, North Sea 1915, North Sea 1916, North Sea 1917, North Sea 1918; Victory Medal 1914-19, M.I.D. oak leaf; Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, Somaliland 1920; 1939-35 Star; Atlantic Star; Defence and War Medals ; Special Constabulary Long Service, G.V.R., 2nd issue, mounted as worn, good very fine and almost certainly a unique combination of “Sierra Leone 1898-99” and “Somaliland 1920” clasps (11) £250-300

Ex Spink, Winter 1988 (Lot 279)

Gilbert George Pearse Hewett was born in March 1880, educated at Clifton College and entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet in 1894. Appointed a Midshipman in H.M.S. Fox on departing Britannia, he witnessed active service in the Sierra Leone operations of 1898-99, following which he specialised in navigation. A Commander in the Hercules by the time of the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he remained similarly employed until removing to the Courageous in 1916 (despatches). Hewett next witnessed active service in the Odin, when he acted as Senior Naval Officer in the rank of Captain in the final operations against the Mad Mullah off Somaliland in 1920, adding another “mention” to his accolades. Having then been placed on the Retired List in 1922, he was recalled on the renewal of hostilities in September 1939, when he took command of the armed merchant cruiser Laconia, and remained actively engaged in that capacity in the North Atlantic until 1941 (C.B.E.). He the came ashore to an appointment at the Liverpool base Eaglet, and latterly served as Maintenance Captain. The Captain died in July 1966.