Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Nine: Captain A. C. W. Domvile, Royal Navy, Gunnery Officer of Malaya at the battle of Jutland

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, no clasp (Midsn. A. C. W. Domvile, H,M.S. Gibraltar.); 1914-15 Star (Lt-Commr. A. C. W. Domvile. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Commr. A. C. W. Domvile); Defence and War Medals; Chile, Order of Merit, 1st Class breast badge, silver, silver-gilt and enamel, minor defects to one arm; France, Legion of Honour, 5th Class breast badge, silver, gilt and enamels; Russia, Order of St Anne, 3rd Class breast badge with swords by Edouard, gold and enamels, nearly extremely fine (9) £1200-1500

Order of St Anne, 3rd Class with swords, London Gazette 5 June 1917 (Jutland).

Legion of Honour, Chevalier, London Gazette 27 August 1918.

Archibald Compton Winnington Domvile was born on 19 May 1884. He was the son of Admiral Sir Compton Domvile, G.C.B., G.C.V.O., and younger brother to Admiral Sir Barry Domvile, K.B.E., C.B., C.M.G. (see D.N.W. 22 July 2015). He entered Britannia as a cadet in January 1899, gaining four months time on passing out. Midshipman, 5 May 1900; Sub-Lieutenant, 15 July 1903; Lieutenant, 15 July 1905; Lieutenant-Commander, 15 July 1913; Commander, 30 June 1917; Captain (Retd.), 19 May 1929. Midshipman in Gibraltar during operations off the coast of South Africa 1901-02. He subsequently specialised in gunnery and qualified as Lieutenant (G) on 23 April 1908. He was lent to the Chilean Navy from October 1912 to August 1914, and received the Chilean Government’s appreciation of service while so employed and the Chilean Order of Merit, 1st Class. On the outbreak of war in 1914 he was appointed as Gunnery Officer to H.M.S. Donegal, and in August 1915 as Gunnery Officer to H.M.S. Malaya, in which battleship he took part in the battle of Jutland as part of the Grand Fleet. The following extract is taken from The Great War at Sea by Richard Hough:

‘The Valiant and Warspite, turning on the same point in succession, were luckier and although straddled frequently and with hundreds of gallons of water streaming across their decks from near misses, emerged unscathed. For the last in the line, the Malaya, the German gunners seemed to have reserved all their pent-up fury at their failure to sink the others. For the five minutes occupied by the turn and for some fifty minutes after as she shaped course due north again, the Malaya was the target of the 12-inch guns of most of the crack ships of Behncke’s 3rd Squadron. At one time, six salvoes a minute were falling around the super-dreadnought. The battleship’s strength and armour, together with the skilful evasive tactics of her captain, Algernon Boyle, saved the ship. By sudden changes of course, the Malaya made herself a difficult target, and at one point the chief gunnery officer, Archibald Domvile, ordered the starboard battery of 6-inch guns to fire rapidly into the sea at close range to provide a moving screen of waterspouts. But two heavy shells in rapid succession at 5.30 knocked out this battery and caused a fire before a single gun could be fired. Five hits were suffered between 5.20 and 5.35 p.m. One heavy shell struck the roof of “X” turret aft but failed to penetrate the one-foot thick hardened steel. Two more struck below the water-line, and the water that came pouring in caused the Malaya to assume a 4-degree list, which in turn restricted the elevation of her own big guns. In spite of this handicap, the heavy odds against her (Hipper’s battle-cruisers plus four to seven battleships), a hundred casualties, and the intermittent shudders from hits, the Malaya kept up a steady and accurate return fire.’

For his services at Jutland, Domvile was decorated by the French and Russian governments, and was recommended for promotion in December 1916 by Rear-Admiral Evans-Thomas. In June 1920 he was again lent to the Chilean Navy, eventually being appointed Naval Attaché at Santiago, Lima and Quito, and in July 1943 as Naval Attaché to Chile and Peru. Domvile held these appointments for the remainder of the Second World War and reverted to the Retired List in April 1947. Captain Domvile died on 30 October 1958, aged 74.