Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A post-war C.B.E. group of seven awarded to Commander Sir Hugh Dawson, Bt., Royal Navy, who served in destroyers throughout the Great War, seeing action at Dogger Bank and off the Belgian coast - in later life he was involved in much work on behalf of naval associations and served on the councils of the Navy League, Sea Cadet Corps, and the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners Royal Benevolent Society

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Civil) Commander’s 2nd type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels, the reverse of the suspension loop fitted with a hook for wearing; 1914-15 Star (S. Lt. T. H. Dawson, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. T. H. Dawson, R.N.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Coronation 1953, enamel damage on the first, otherwise very fine and better (7) £400-500

C.B.E. London Gazette 2 January 1950.

Hugh Trevor Dawson was born in January 1893, the son of Sir Arthur Trevor Dawson, Bt., and succeeded to his father’s title in 1931.

Appointed a Midshipman in September 1911, and advanced to Sub. Lieutenant on the eve of the Great War, he was serving in the destroyer H.M.S. Mastiff on the outbreak of hostilities, in which capacity he was present in the Dogger Bank action in January 1915, prior to being employed in the Dover Patrol. His subsequent wartime appointments were in the destroyers Mansfield (1916-17), Lightfoot (1917), Shakespeare (1917-18), and Valkyrie (1918), and included further service in the Dover Patrol, including operations off the Belgian Coast. Meanwhile, he had been advanced to Lieutenant in May 1916.

Placed on the Retired List as a Lieutenant-Commander in February 1924, Dawson was recalled on the renewal of hostilities, originally with an appointment in the Naval Intelligence Department. Remaining employed at the Admiralty for the rest of the War, he was employed in anti-submarine and coastal defence planning and reverted to the Retired List as a Commander in September 1945.

Post-war, in addition to holding senior appointments in the Decca Navigator Company and Decca Radar, Dawson was actively concerned with naval and yachting activities and for many years served on the Councils of the Navy League, Sea Cadet Corps, and Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners Royal Benevolent Society - his time as Chairman of the Sea Cadet Corps gaining him appointment as C.B.E. in 1950.

He also served on the Sailing Committee of the Royal Yacht Squadron and as a Commodore of the Bembridge Sailing Club, and his yacht Verity acted as Committee Boat at the London Olympic Games in 1948. Sir Hugh died in April 1976; sold with copied research.