Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Volunteer Force Long Service, V.R. (19 Qtr. Mt. Sergt. J. Haly, Falmouth Vol. Div. Sub. Miners) engraved naming, mounted as worn, nearly extremely fine, unique to unit £180-220

John Haly was born in Falmouth, Cornwall, in 1841. In the 1861 Census he is listed as a Shipwright; in the 1871/81 Census he is the Innkeeper at the Fountain Inn, Falmouth. Haly was a Volunteer with the Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry before transferring to the Falmouth Volunteer Division Submarine Miners, R.E. The unit was formed in 1888 and was in existence for only a few years. Haly’s medal is the only one to the unit, being awarded per A.O. October 1895. Haly died in Falmouth in 1923.

With copied census extracts and other research, including an extract from the Royal Cornwall Gazette , 9 August 1878, which reports on a ‘melee’ at Truro Station where Sergeant John Haly was assaulted. Also a photograph of the General Elliott - the mine-laying steamer used by the Falmouth Volunteer Submarine Miners from 1889.