Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An R.V.M. group of six awarded to Petty Officer Charles Titcombe, Royal Navy, who received the Royal Victorian Medal for services at Queen Victoria’s funeral, and was awarded the Naval M.S.M. for services in Torpedo Boat Destroyer No. 80 during 1918

Royal Victorian Medal, V.R., bronze, unnamed; 1914-15 Star (149116, C. Titcombe, P.O. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (149116 C. Titcombe. P.O. R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (149116 Charles Titcombr, P.O. 1 Cl. H.M.S. Research); Royal Naval Meritorious Service Medal, G.V.R. (149116. C. Titcombe, P.O. 1 Cl. “T.B. No. 80” 1, July - 11, Nov. 1918.; together with a small 9-carat gold fob-medal inscribed ‘RND U.S.C.L. 1908 C. Titcombe’, a few spots of verdigris but generally extremely fine, the R.V.M. very fine (7) £400-£500

R.V.M. Bronze awarded in February 1901 to Charles Titcombe, A.B., H.M.S. Excellent, for services as a member of the Naval Guard of Honour at the Funeral of Queen Victoria.

M.S.M. London Gazette 11 April 1919: ‘For services in Local Defence Flotillas between 1st July and 11th November 1918.’

M.I.D. London Gazette 23 May 1917.

Charles Titcombe was born in the Parish of St Denys, Southampton, on 16 August 1873. He entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class aboard H.M.S. Trincomalee on 24 July 1889. He was rated Ordinary Seaman in August 1891, Able Seaman in October 1892 and achieved Petty Officer status in February 1900. He served aboard H.M.S. Excellent from August 1900 to May 1901, during which period, in May 1902, he was a member of the Naval Guard of Honour at Queen Victoria’s funeral. He was advanced to Petty Officer 1st Class in December 1906, and joined the Royal Fleet Reserve at Portsmouth on 28 August 1913. The outbreak of war in 1914 found him on the books of Victory and then of Vernon, the torpedo school. From January 1915 until the end of the war he served aboard the Torpedo Boat Destroyer T.B. No. 80, all this time being on the books of H.M.S. Research, a paddle survey ship launched in 1888, but serving as Depot ship at Portland for the Auxiliary Patrol, 1915-20. He received his L.S. & G.C. medal on 29 January 1918, and for his services in the Auxiliary Patrol in T.B. 80 received the Naval M.S.M. in April the following year.