Orders, Decorations and Medals

China 1842 (H. A. Ford, Volunteer 1st Class, H.M.S. Pylades.) drilled with small ring for suspension, very fine £450-550

Henry Anson Ford was born in 1828, the sixth child of Sir Francis Ford and Elizabeth Anson. He served as a Volunteer 1st Class in Pylades, under Commander T. V. Anson, a maternal uncle, seeing service in China. He made Midshipman in Pique, was promoted Mate in April 1847 and Lieutenant in August 1848, serving in Alarm from October 1848 to May 1849, again under Anson who was now Captain. He joined Encounter in September 1849 but, in February 1850, he was placed under close arrest for ‘alleged indecent familiarities with boys’. Upon arrival at Portsmouth in March 1850, Lieutenant Ford was discharged to shore (together with three Boys 2nd Class, all dismissed to Victory) where he was dismissed from the service on 19 March 1850. Further information has him arriving in Sydney, Australia, in 1850, and a newspaper report has him indicted for inciting a duel in June 1853.