Auction Catalogue

19–21 June 2013

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Washington Mayfair Hotel  London  W1J 5HE

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Lot

№ 1362

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20 June 2013

Hammer Price:
£580

The impressive group of fifteen miniature dress medals attributed to Captain Henry Taprell Dorling, D.S.O., Royal Navy
Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., gold and enamel, complete with top bar; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 1 clasp, Natal; China 1900, 1 clasp, Relief of Pekin; 1914-15 Star; British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals; Coronation 1911, silver; Coronation 1953; U.S.A. Legion of Merit, Officer’s badge. enamelled, with emblem on ribbon; Sweden, Medal for Bravery at Sea, Gustavus V, silver-gilt, this last engraved on an otherwise plain reverse, ‘Commander T. Dorling’, mounted court style as worn; with an associated miniature British War Medal 1914-20, 7 clasps, North Sea 1914, Narrow Seas 1915, Narrow Seas 1916, Narrow Seas 1917, North Sea 1918, Belgian Coast, Mine Laying, miniatures contained in a leather case by J. R. Gaunt, London, the lid bearing the intials, ‘T.D.’, good very fine and better (16) £500-600

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, An Old Collection of Medals Relating to The Great War.

View An Old Collection of Medals Relating to The Great War

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Collection

Captain Henry Taprell Dorling ‘Taffrail’ (1883-1968) was the second son of Colonel Francis Dorling, Royal Sussex Regiment, of Farnborough. Educated at H.M.S. Britannia, he then entered the Royal Navy. Served in Natal during the Boer War and in the relief of Pekin during the Third China War. Served throughout the Great War, commanding destroyers, being mentioned in despatches and created a Companion in the Distinguished Service Order in 1918. Awarded the Swedish Gold Medal for Saving Life at Sea in 1917. He retired from the Royal Navy in 1929 but was recalled in 1939. Served variously at sea and with the Ministry of Information, 1939-42 and on the Staff of the C-in-C. Mediterranean, 1942-45. Awarded the U.S.A. Legion of Merit, Officer, in 1944. Was a Younger Brother of Trinity House; Fellow of the Royal Historical Society; Member of the Navy Records Society; and a Member of the Society for Nautical Research. A prolific author of books on the Royal Navy, he is universally known to medal collectors as the author of the much loved Ribbons and Medals.