Auction Catalogue

2 July 2003

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Grand Connaught Rooms  61 - 65 Great Queen St  London  WC2B 5DA

Lot

№ 665

.

2 July 2003

Hammer Price:
£140

Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 3rd issue, coinage head (K. 21743 J. W. Meaton, S.P.O., H.M.S. Penzance) very fine £40-50

John William Meaton was born in Alton, Hampshire in November 1894 and entered the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class in January 1914. Following a brief appointment aboard the cruiser H.M.S. Edgar, he joined, in August 1914, the battleship Agincourt and was present in her at the Battle of Jutland. On that memorable occasion the Agincourt fired nearly 150 shells from her 12-inch guns and over a hundred from her secondary 6-inch armament, registering hits on an enemy battleship of the Kaiser class and two destroyers. But her part in the battle was far from plain sailing, no small amount of skilful torpedo-dodging making up her brief:

‘As far as the
Agincourt was concerned, our excitement started at 7.08 p.m., when with the sharp turn of the ship a torpedo passed just under the stern, and later on another broke surface about 150 yards short on our starboard beam. At 7.35 p.m. the tracks of two more torpedoes were reported approaching on the starboard side, but by good co-operation between the fore-top and the conning tower they were both avoided. Aloft the tracks were clearly visible, and acting on the reports from there the ship was gradually turned away, so that by perfect timing one torpedo passed the port side and one the starboard side; after which we resumed our place in line. A fifth torpedo was successfully dodged by zigzagging at 7.47 p.m., but after this we had no further excitements’ (The Fighting at Jutland refers).

Meaton left the
Agincourt in December 1917 and ended the War as a Leading Stoker in the battleship Implacable. He was awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in January 1934, while serving in the sloop Penzance.