Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., V.R., wide suspension (Wm. Morey. Chf. Grs. Mate. H.M.S. Excellent. 22 Ys.) pawnbroker’s mark to obverse field, contact marks, nearly very fine £500-£700

Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, September 2001.

William Morey was born at Portsea, Hampshire, on 21 July 1815, and joined the Navy as a Boy on 28 January 1823, when he was less than 8 years old. He was rated Able Seaman in November 1829, a remarkable achievement by the age of 14. In June 1830 he was rated Stoker but after about two years returned to his rate of Able Seaman and was Invalided from the service on 10 April 1833.

Morey, however, rejoined the Navy in early 1835 and, in October 1844, was rated Able Seaman and Diver. Divers had existed as a rate in the Navy for a number of years for, according to a letter written in 1834 from a Cadet, who later became an Admiral, “... there is a man who has invented a sort of India-rubber dress with two glass eyes, and he goes down a ladder and sends up things from the seabed by rope.” While serving at H.M.S. Excellent, Morey trained to be a Gunnery rating and, by May 1855, was Chief Gunner’s Mate at Excellent. He was discharged to pension on 8 September 1856 and received his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal five days later.

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