Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Surgeon Lieutenant D. S. MacKnight, Royal Navy, who was killed in action when H.M.S. Britannia was torpedoed off Cape Trafalgar by U-50, 9 November 1918 - just two days before the Armistice, making her one of the last British warships lost during the Great War

1914-15 Star (Surg. D. S. MacKnight. MB. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Surg. Lt. D. S. MacKnight. R.N.) with named card boxes of issue, good very fine or better (3) £300-£400

Dundas Simpson MacKnight MB, Ch. B, was the son of the Reverend J. MacKnight of U.F. Manse, Whitburn, West Lothian, and was educated at Edinburgh University. MacKnight was appointed to a temporary commission as Surgeon in the Royal Navy in January 1915, and served as Surgeon Lieutenant with H.M.S. Britannia (battleship) during the Great War.

MacKnight was killed in action, 9 November 1918, when the Britannia was travelling through the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar and was torpedoed off Cape Trafalgar by the German submarine U-50. The Britannia sank after several explosions, and nearly three hours listing in the water - during which time 39 officers and 379 men were successfully taken off the doomed vessel. MacKnight was one of 50 of the crew that were killed, and he and 22 others are buried in the Gibraltar (North Front) Cemetery.

The Britannia was sunk just two days before the Armistice, and was one of the last British warships lost during the Great War.