Auction Catalogue

29 November 1996

Starting at 1:00 PM

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Orders, Decorations and Medals

The Westbury Hotel  37 Conduit Street  London  W1S 2YF

Lot

№ 413

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29 November 1996

Estimate: £350–£450

A Great War C.B.E. group of five awarded to Captain P. H. Warleigh, Royal Navy, ‘the first British Officer in action against the Turks’
The Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Military) 1st type neck badge; 1914-15 Star Trio (Capt., R.N.); Egypt, Order of the Nile, 3rd class neck badge in silver, gilt and enamels, the reverse inscribed (Captain, R.N., H.M.S. “Minerva”, Akaba, Tor, Suez Canal, 1914-15), generally good very fine (5)

C.B.E. London Gazette 27 June, 1919.
Percival Henry Warleigh was born in 1873 and educated privately. He joined
Britannia in 1886 and was commissioned Lieutenant in 1894, specialising in Gunnery; Commander 1905; Deputy Commissioner, Western Pacific, 1911; Captain 1913. Acording to a report from The Illustrated War News, dated Nov. 11, 1914, he was ‘the first British Officer in action against the Turks’: ‘Captain Percival H. Warleigh commissioned the “Minerva” at Portsmouth in June. “On arrival off Akaba,” in the words of the Admiralty statement, “he found the place in the occupation of soldiers, one of whom had the appearance of a German officer, and armed natives.” The port and troops were shelled, after which a landing party finally destroyed the place.’
Captain Warleigh commanded the cruiser
Minerva in the Suez Canal zone during the operations in 1914-15, and, during the latter part of the year, in the Dardanelles, as part of the First Squadron. His subsequent commands included Magnificent and Crescent. He was Flag Captain, Port depot Ship, Rosyth, in charge of submarine defences in the North Sea, 1916-19. Captain Warleigh retired in 1922 and died on 20 October, 1933.