Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Private G. L. Elliott, Royal Marine Light Infantry

1914-15 Star (PO. 15549, Pte. G. L. Elliott. R.M.L.I.); British War and Victory Medals (PO. 15549 Pte. G. L. Elliott R.M.L.I.); Italy, Kingdom, Messina Earthquake Medal 1908, silver, unnamed as issued, mounted as worn, very fine (4) £140-£180

George Lovering Elliott was born in 1884 at Portsmouth, Hampshire. He enlisted as a Private in the Royal Marine Light Infantry on 11 February 1902 at Chatham Docks and joined the Portsmouth Division on 20 November 1902, serving until 27 June 1922. Notably, he served in H.M.S. Euryalus from September 1907 until December 1909, and was present in this ship during the Messina Earthquake relief operation of 1908. According to the medal roll he did not land from the ship but all crew were eligible for the medal.

Elliott served aboard the Dreadnought class battleship H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth throughout the Great War. As the flagship for the preliminary naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign, she led the first line of British battleships in the battle of 18 March 1915. During the attempted military invasion of Gallipoli on 25 April, Queen Elizabeth was the flagship for General Sir Ian Hamilton, commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force.