Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Persian Gulf 1909-1914 (286861. R. Higham. Sto. P.O. H.M.S. Alert.) light contact marks, very fine £100-140

Richard Higham was born at Bolton, Lancashire, on 14 November 1878, and joined the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class on 15 January 1898. Promoted Stoker on 1 December 1898; Leading Stoker on 2 July 1906; and Stoker Petty Officer on 18 October 1908, he served in H.M.S. Alert from 15 February 1910 to 2 July 1911. Lent to the Royal Australian Navy on 6 March 1913, he spent the entire Great War in various Australian units, and was promoted Chief Stoker on 1 January 1916. On return to the United Kingdom on 24 April 1920, he was shore pensioned on 20 June of that year.