Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Victory Medal 1914-19 (4) (305945 E. Coombes. Sto. 1. R.N.; 236455 E. W. Hancock. Sig. R.N.; J.21931 A. H.Holt. Boy 1 R.N.; 203605 C. Macarthur. L.S. R.N.) very fine or better (4) £70-£90

Edwin Coombes,of Torquay, Devon was born on 28 January 1885 and first joined the Royal Navy in 1904. He served at H.M.S. Vivid II (Devonport) initially and then went to sea in H.M.S. Monmouth. He was on board H.M.S. Amphion, flotilla leader defending the eastern approaches of the English Channel, when she struck a mine on 6 August 1914 off the Thames Estuary, thus becoming the first Royal Navy ship to be sunk during the Great War. The mine had previously been laid by the SMS Königin Luise which the Amphion had engaged the day before. The Amphion’s Captain Cecil Fox wrongly believed that the Königin Luise had been laying mines further east; tragically he was mistaken and at 6.35am his vessel struck one of the mines, going down in 15 minutes with the loss of 132 crew. Coombes was amongst those killed, and is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.

Ernest William Hancock, a grocer’s assistant from Chelsea, was born on 1 November 1889 and enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1907 serving at a variety of training and shore establishments before going to sea in H.M.S. Black Prince. He was on board the cruiser H.M.S. Cressy when she was struck by a torpedo launched by Submarine U-9 on 22 September 1914 in an attack that saw Cressy and her two sister ships Aboukir and Hogue sunk when they were patrolling in the “Broad Fourteens” without their destroyer escort which had been forced to shelter due to bad weather. In total over 1,450 British sailors were lost including 560 from Cressy. Hancock was amongst those killed and is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial.

Arthur Horace Holt, of Brighton, was born on 4 November 1897 and enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1913. He was serving in H.M.S. Bulwark from November of that year until she was sunk on 26 November 1914. He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

Christopher MacArthur was born in Govan in Lanarkshire on 6 August 1881 and first enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1899, re-enlisting in 1911. He was serving in H.M.S. Bulwark when she was sunk on 26 November 1914 and is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

H.M.S. Bulwark was with the 5th Battle Squadron based at Portland, Dorset at the start of the Great War. She was assigned to the reformed Channel Fleet to defend the English Channel and oversee the British Expeditionary Force en route to France in August 1914. In November of that year the 5th Battle Squadron transferred to Sheerness because of fears that German invasion of Britain was imminent. At just before 8.00am on 26 November 1914 a huge explosion ripped through Bulwark whilst she was moored near Kenthole Reach in the Medway Estuary, destroying the ship entirely with the loss of 741 men of which only 30 or so were recovered for burial. A naval enquiry held two days later ruled out enemy action, either through torpedo or mine, as there was no evidence of an explosion against the outer hull. It was concluded that cordite charges, which were being re-stowed, were probably placed near boiler room bulkheads when the ship’s company was called for breakfast at 7.45am. These bulkheads then increased in temperature when the boilers were fired up, igniting the charges which, in turn, detonated nearby shells which then spread to the aft twelve-inch magazine which exploded ripping the ship apart.