Orders, Decorations and Medals

Family group:

A Medal of the Order of the British Empire group of three awarded to Chief Officer J. H. Gravener, Ealing Fire Brigade, late Royal Navy
Medal of the Order of the British Empire, (Civil), unnamed as issued, in John Pinches, London case of issue; Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, no clasp ((J. Gravener, Lg. Sean., H.M.S. “Salamis”; Khedive’s Star 1882, unnamed, last two with some contact marks, nearly very fine; first extremely fine

Three: Private J. H. Gravener, Royal Army Medical Corps
1914-15 Star (58341 Pte., R.A.M.C.); British War and Victory Medals (58341 Pte., R.A.M.C.) extremely fine (6) £450-550

Medal of the O.B.E. London Gazette 7 July 1920. Chief Officer, Ealing Fire Brigade’ ‘For conspicuous courage and devotion to duty on the occasion of a fire at a munitions factory’

The original recommendation states: ‘The principal fire attended by this Brigade was that on 2 February 1917 at the Purex Works, Greenford, where a quantity of high explosives were stores. Great difficulty was experienced in getting the steamers to work as all the hydrants with the exception of one were frozen. The Ealing Brigade assisted the Wembley Brigade in placing their steamers on an elevated bank of the canal so that they could pump water in a dam to supply other engines. The work of fighting the fire was carried out within a few yards of a large dump of high explosives. They also assisted in removing some Railway trucks containing explosives.’

Joseph Hambrook Gravener was born in Dover, Kent on 9 March 1855. On leaving school he was apprenticed to a Boiler Maker. In June 1870 he joined the Royal Navy and attained the rank of Petty Officer. During the Russo-Turkish War, 1878-79, he served on H.M.S. Temeraire and was with the British fleet that forced the Dardanelles in 1878. In 1882 he was present on H.M.S. Salamis in the Egypt campaign. At the conclusion of the campaign he was appointed Coxswain to H.R.H. The Duke of Connaught during his stay at Alexandria. On leaving the Royal Navy in 1882 Gravener joined the London Fire Brigade. In 1884 he was complimented by Captain Sir Eyre Massey Shaw for saving three lives during a fire in the Minories. In 1886 he was again complimented for saving life, this time in a fire in Widegate Street, London. Upon the recommendation of Captain Shaw he joined the West Ham Fire Brigade in 1890, and was for a number of years in charge of a sub-station at Forest Gate. During his service with this brigade, Captain Gravener rescued ten horses from a burning stable at Stratford and was later instrumental in saving life at the Forest Gate Industrial School, in which 27 children lost their lives. In 1896 he was appointed Chief Officer of Ealing Fire Brigade. In this capacity, for his wartime services at a fire in a munitions factory, he was awarded the medal of the O.B.E. in 1920 A prominent member of the Professional Fire Brigade Association, in 1924 he was appointed Chairman of the Governing Council. Gravener retired from Ealing Fire Brigade on 31 December 1925. He died in May 1932. With copied R.N. service papers and obituaries and with his son’s m.i.c.