Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Petty Officer Second Class E. Comper, Royal Navy, killed in action on H.M. Trawler Princess Beatrice, 5 October 1914

1914-15 Star (184365 E. Comper P. O. 2 R. N.); British War and Victory Medals (184365 E. Comper. P. O. 2 R. N.), minor contact marks, good very fine (3) £140-180

Ernest James Comper was born in 1879 in Horsham, Sussex, and joined the Royal Navy in 1897 as Boy Second Class. He was advanced to Petty Officer Telegraphist before joining the Royal Fleet Reserve in 1905. He re-enrolled in 1910 and served during the Great War in H.M. Trawler Princess Beatrice, an unarmed trawler used as a minesweeper of the Dover Patrol, from 27 August 1914. He was killed in action along with 10 other crew when the Princess Beatrice hit a mine near the Belgian coast on 5 October 1914, and is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent. He is also commemorated on the Dover War Memorial, the St James Church Memorial, Streatham, and St. Mary The Virgin Parish Church Memorial, Dover.