Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare and well-documented ‘Lake Nyassa 1893’ campaign pair awarded to Engine Room Artificer 1st Class W. T. E. Henning, Royal Navy

East and West Africa 1887-1900, 1 clasp, Lake Nyassa 1893 (W. Henning, E.R.A., H.M.S. Adventure.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., E.VII.R. (William Henning, E.R.A. 1 Cl., H.M.S. Duke of Wellington) mounted for wear, light contact marks, minor edge bruising, very fine (2) £3800-4200

Twenty nine clasps only were issued for this expedition against Chief Makanjira in Central Africa, all to Royal Navy personnel serving aboard H.M. Ships Adventure (12) and Pioneer (17).

These ships were built by Yarrow & Co. of Poplar, London, sent out to Africa in sections, and hauled over two hundred miles through virgin country and jungle to the edge of the lake where they were assembled. This remarkable undertaking, reflected in the appropriate names given to the ships, was in many ways the precursor, or even the inspiration, of the Naval Expedition to Lake Tanganyika in 1915.

Magor states of their part in the expedition, following the commencement of operations against the rebel chief Makanjira:

‘H.M.S. Pioneer and H.M.S. Adventure then took part in a combined operation against Makanjira’s mother, Kalunda, a slave trading chieftainess, who with her warriors was shelled out of her village at Rifu Bay. Makanjira sent a dhow to rescue his mother but this was sunk by the Pioneer.’

William Thomas Edward Henning was born in Southampton, Hampshire, in December 1866. He joined the Royal Navy as an Engine Room Artificer 4th Class in May 1888. Subsequent service included in H.M.S. Adventure, 19 August 1893 - 17 December 1893. Henning was discharged from the small gunboat on the latter date as ‘Invalided’.

Henning advanced to Engine Room Artificer 2nd Class, and served with that rating in the Royal Oak, Trafalgar and Duke of Wellington. He was awarded the L.S. & G.C. in September 1903, and was ‘Shore Pensioned’ as an E.R.A. 1st Class in May 1910. Two months later he signed up for three years as part of the Canadian Naval Service agreement. Henning served the terms of the agreement as Chief Engine Room Artificer with H.M.C.S. Niobe. He was discharged in July 1913, and died in Worthing, West Sussex, in October 1955.

Sold with the following related documents: recipient’s original Parchment Certificate of Service; letter of reference written by the Chief Engineer H.M.C.S. Niobe at Halifax, Nova Scotia, dated 11 July 1913; three photographic images of recipient, including one of him wearing his medals; and a quantity of copied research.