Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Second War 1942 Posthumous Albert Medal for Sea group of four awarded to Lieutenant E. P. S. Russell, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, for, despite not being a strong swimmer, making a gallant attempt to save the life of a man who was washed overboard from H.M.S. Eskimo in heavy weather off the coast of Falmouth on 9 May 1942, and laying down his own life in the process

Albert Medal, 2nd Class, for Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea, bronze and enamel, reverse officially engraved ‘Awarded by The King to the late Lieutenant Edward Peregrine Stuart Russell, R.N.V.R., for Gallantry in attempting to save life at sea on 9th. May 1942’, in case of issue; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45, traces of verdigris to 1939-45 Star, otherwise nearly extremely fine (4) £6000-8000

Provenance: Glendining’s, March 1976.

A.M. London Gazette 11 August 1942:

‘When H.M.S. Eskimo was on passage in heavy weather on 9th May 1942, a man was washed overboard. Lieutenant Russell, seeing that he could not grasp the bearing lines thrown to him, dived overboard and tried to secure him, but the man sank before he could do this. As Lieutenant Russell himself was being hauled on board he lost his hold on the bearing line, and drifted away. Another Officer tried to save him, but could not reach him, and by the time the ship could be stopped, he was dead. He was not a strong swimmer, and had made a gallant attempt to save his shipmate.’

Edward Peregrine Stuart Russell was born in Camberley, Surrey, in 1917, the son of Captain Somerville Russell, Royal Navy, and was commissioned as a Sub-Lieutenant into the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on 9 June 1936, serving with the London Division. He served during the Second World War in H.M.S. Eskimo (destroyer), and was killed whilst trying to save the life of a member of the crew of Eskimo, off the coast at Falmouth, Cornwall, on 9 May 1942. His body was recovered from the water, and he is buried in Falmouth Cemetery.