Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Vice-Admiral Sir Malcolm Goldsmith, Royal Navy

British War and Victory Medals (Commr., R.N.) good very fine (2) £140-180

Malcolm Lennon Goldsmith was born at Plymouth in August 1880 and was educated at Pencarwick House and Britannia, which latter establishment he entered as a Naval Cadet in July 1894.

By the outbreak of hostilities, Goldsmith was a Lieutenant-Commander and captain of the destroyer H.M.S. Laertes, in which ship he fought with distinction at the battle of Heligoland Bight, winning advancement to Commander - the Laertes was badly damaged by the enemy cruiser Mainz, which was eventually sunk. Again in action at Jutland, when he commanded a division of the Ninth Flotilla, which had just joined the Grand Fleet from the Harwich Force, he won a commendation and the Russian Order of St. Stanislaus, 2nd Class, with swords. Goldsmith was next appointed to the command of Redgauntlet, in which latter ship he was awarded the D.S.O. ‘in recognition of his services in the prosecution of war’ (London Gazette 1 June 1917 refers), but in the following year he was cautioned by Admiral Beatty following the collision of his new command, the Nimrod, with the Mystic.

Luckily this unfortunate mishap did little to diminish Goldsmith’s standing as a ‘born leader of Destroyers’, and he was advanced to Captain in June 1919, promotion that was followed by several senior ‘D.’ appointments in the early 1920s. Further recognition of his abilities came in 1926, when he was appointed King’s Harbour Master at Malta, a posting that persuaded him to undertake the journey there - a distance of some 2,000 miles - alone in his 15-ton yacht Rame, a feat that was duly recorded by “Taffrail” in Chambers Journal. Goldsmith returned to the U.K. two years later and, following command of the Patrol, Minesweeping and Fishery Protection Flotilla, he was placed on the Retired List as a Rear-Admiral in October 1931, an event possibly hastened by Their Lordships ‘severe displeasure’ being incurred when one of his commands was grounded.

The renewal of hostilities witnessed the Admiral’s swift return to uniform, when he was appointed a Commodore, R.N.R. for convoy duties, taking his first convoy to sea on 7 September 1939. According to The Times, ‘he sailed on most of the chief convoy routes, including the Artic route to Murmansk, and by the summer of 1943 he had conducted over 1,000 ships, with the loss of only three.’ Goldsmith was appointed K.B.E.

An amusing anecdote from his days as a Commodore of Convoys may also be found in The Times:

‘One of his convoys bound to Murmansk was persistently shadowed by a German scouting aircraft, which could not be driven off as it remained out of gunshot. Tired of its attentions, the Commodore told his Yeoman of Signals to call it up with a flashing lamp, and when the German observer answered the call, to signal “From Commodore. Good morning.” A few minutes later the Yeoman reported that the aeroplane had replied also with a “Good morning,” and the Commodore said, “oh, tell him to go away,” and left the bridge for his morning constitutional on deck. Very soon the Yeoman came down to him and reported that his signal had been made, and in answer to the question how he had worded it, reported, “i just made You ----- off. But there has been no reply, Sir.” ’

The Admiral, who prefered ‘the wilds to society’ but was popular when he was found there, and who was also a Knight of the Swedish Order of the Sword and Russian Order of St. Vladimir, died in October 1955. He left four daughters, although according to one of his old commanding officers, ‘his first child’ was his yacht Rame.