Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 1 clasp, Suakin 1884 (A. I. Childs. Sh: Stewds. Asst. H.M.S. “Euryalus”) light pitting from star, nearly very fine and a scarce rate £200-£240

Alfred James Childs was born at Southsea, Hampshire, on 19 January 1862. He was the seventh of eight children of William and Mary and appears in the 1881 census as a 19 year old ship steward residing at the Cambridge Hotel in Portsmouth with some of his family. His father was a licensed victualler. He began his naval career as a 15 year old boy on the Duke of Wellington in 1877 which served as a depot ship in the Portsmouth Dockyard. He served in H.M.S. Euryalus during the period 11 January 1882 to 23 July 1885 (Medal with Suakin 1884 clasp). He earned a L.S. & G.C. medal while serving in H.M.S. Acorn in 1890 and was pensioned ashore in 1900. In the 1901 census he is shown as a Naval pensioner living in Lewisham with his two sons Alfred (13) and Frederick (8). He died in the second quarter of 1909, aged 47, at Alverstoke, Hampshire. Sold with copied record of service.