Auction Catalogue

16 December 2003

Starting at 10:00 AM

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Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

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

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Lot

№ 897

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16 December 2003

Hammer Price:
£2,900

An interesting Second World War D.S.M. group of eight awarded to Chief Petty Officer S. H. Elwyn, Royal Naval Reserve, for great courage in action between H.M.S. Carnarvon Castle and the German armed merchant raider Thor in the South Atlantic in December 1940

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (P.5523D S. H. Elwyn, P.O. R.N.R.) impressed naming; British War and Victory Medals (Sydney A. Reed); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Burma Star, clasp, Pacific; War Medal; Royal Naval Reserve L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., coinage head, with additional long service bar (5523D. P.O. R.N.R.) together with small portrait photograph and the recipient’s pocket Bible, nearly extremely fine (8) £700-900

D.S.M. London Gazette 6 June 1941: ‘Petty Officer Sydney Herbert Elwyn, R.N.R., H.M.S. Carnarvon Castle. For great courage and devotion to duty in action against an Armed Merchant Raider.’

The recommendation states: ‘On the occasion of the action between H.M.S.
Carnarvon Castle and a German armed merchant raider on 5th December 1940. Petty Officer Elwyn, Chief Quartermaster, was at the wheel all through the action, and obeyed every order calmly and exactly.’

Sydney Albert Reed was born at Southampton on 23 February 1902. His parents died when he was a teenager and, having been taken in by a kindly family, he eventually changed his names to Sydney Herbert Elwyn. He served most of his life in the Union Castle Line and enrolled in the Royal Naval Reserve in October 1921. He joined the armed merchant cruiser
Carnarvon Castle on 2 September 1939 and headed for the South Atlantic. On 5 December, whilst en-route to Monte Video, she encountered and engaged the German armed merchant raider Thor. London’s communiqué about the action was most reserved and uncommunicative:

‘The armed merchant cruiser H.M.S.
Carnarvon Castle (Captain H. N. M. Hardy, D.S.O., R.N.) was in action yesterday with a fast and heavily armed German raider disguised as a merchant ship in the South Atlantic... There was heavy firing on both sides during the engagement and a considerable amount of ammunition was expended as H.M.S. Carnarvon Castle gave chase to the enemy.

H.M.S.
Carnarvon Castle received slight damage and there were some casualties. The next-of-kin will be informed as soon as possible. It is not yet known what damage was inflicted on the enemy raider and she was last reported steaming north at high speed away from the scene of the action.’

Petty Officer Elwyn, who had remained at the wheel throughout the action, received his well earned D.S.M. from the King at Buckingham Palace on 28 April 1942. Altogether, awards for this action amounted to two D.S.C’s, one C.G.M. to C.P.O. Bennet who was wounded in six places, five D.S.M’s, two posthumous and 12 other mentions in despatches. Elwyn left the
Carnarvon Castle in December 1943, and served aboard Triphibian II during the following two months. In April 1944 he joined the old cruiser Despatch and took part in the Normandy landings, being recommended for a mention in despatches for his good work, though this was never gazetted. Sold with full R.N.R. service record and copy recommendations for D.S.M. and mention.

The third item is the Mercantile Marine War Medal, not the Victory Medal