Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A very rare and impressive China service group of eight awarded to Captain H. E. Hillman, Royal Navy, who, having commanded the gunboat Woodlark in the Boxer Rebellion, and undertaken a pioneering ascent of the Upper Yangtze, served as Harbour Master at Canton and as Deputy Coast Inspector in the Chinese Customs

China 1900, no clasp (Lieut. Commr. H. E. Hillman, R.N., H.M.S. Woodlark); 1914-15 Star (Commr. H. E. Hillman, R.N.); British War and Victory Medal (Commr. H. E. Hillman, R.N.); Defence Medal 1939-45; China, Republic, Order of the Striped Tiger, 3rd Class neck, 70mm. dia., badge, silver-gilt and enamel, the reverse unmarked; China, Republic, Order of the Brilliant Jade, 5th Class breast badge, 63mm. dia., silver, silver-gilt and enamel, the reverse bearing Chinese hallmarks and the officially stamped number ‘27’, rosette on red ribbon with blue and white borders; Order of the Golden Grain, 5th Class breast badge, 57mm. diam., silver-gilt and enamel, rosette on red ribbon with white borders, discolouration to red enamel on the Striped Tiger, generally good very fine (8) £2500-3000

Henry Eilbeck Hillman entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet in the Britannia training ship in July 1890, was advanced to Sub. Lieutenant in July 1894 and to Lieutenant in October 1896 and, in October 1899, received his first command, H.M.S. Woodlark, a river gunboat armed with two 6-pounders and manned by a crew of 37 officers and ratings.

Subsequently engaged in Chinese waters during the Boxer Rebellion, the Woodlark completed a remarkable ascent of the Upper Yangtze from Pehang to Chungking, the outward journey taking nearly a month, but the return journey just three days - a round trip of some 700 miles. Later, according to Hillman’s diary (see below), ‘Their Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty expressed their approval of the expedition and mentioned the good work done by the engine-room staff in repairing the damage done to the bow of the Woodlark at the Yeh-tan rapid’. And for his own part, in formulating ‘numerous plans of the Yangtse River, with direction’, he was awarded the Shadwell Prize, the gift of the Navy’s Hydrographer.

Indeed Hillman’s time on the China Station seems to have proved a defining moment in his career, for he opted to leave the Royal Navy in favour of a position in Chinese Customs, in which capacity he remained employed until being recalled in August 1914 as a Commander from the Retired List. Having then commanded the armed yacht Mekong on the China Station, he returned to the U.K. to take up an appointment on the Staff of Rear-Admiral E. R. Pears in June 1915 and, in July 1917, assumed command of Mars, the harbour depot ship at Invergordon, remaining similarly employed until the War’s end.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including Customs House, Canton forwarding letter for the ‘Chia Ho Decoration’, dated 11 November 1914; royal ‘Permission to Wear’ warrants for the Orders of the Golden Grain, dated 23 June 1915, with Foreign Office forwarding letter, and the Order of the Brilliant Jade, ‘with Red Rosette with Blue and White Borders’, dated 16 March 1938; together with his commission warrants for the ranks of Sub. Lieutenant, with seniority from 14 July 1894, and Lieutenant, with seniority from October 1896; official communication from the C.-in-C. China Station informing him of the award of the Shadwell Prize, dated 18 March 1902 (’The Hydrographer of the Navy will communicate with you in regard to the selection of the Prize ... ’), and Admiralty notification of his advancement to the rank of Captain (Retired), dated 28 May 1919; his hand written list of his career ship appointments and services, signed and dated 11 December 1948; and hand written ‘Extracts from my Diaries’, namely 9pp. of entertaining yarns from his time in command of Woodlark in 1901 - thus an invasion of white moth, the loss of one of his Leading Stokers, local protocol and a “prang” with a pontoon bridge with the C.-in-C. aboard (’He was tactful enough to say nothing about it ... ’): more importantly, however, considerable commentary regarding the Woodlark’s trail-blazing ascent of the Upper Yangtze.