Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War D.S.M. group of five awarded to Shipwright L. G. Penney, Royal Navy, who was decorated for services on the Mediterranean Station

Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (345386. L. G. Penny [sic], Shipwt. 1st Cl. Mediterranean Station. 1917.) 1914-15 Star (345386, L. G. Penney, Shpt. 1. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (345386 L. G. Penney. Shpt. 1. R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (335386 L. G. Penney. Ch. Shpt. 1. Cl. H.M.S. Wildfire.) the medals all abrasively acid cleaned, leading to heavy corrosion to the Star, the Star and VM gilded, and the silver medals lacquered, edge bruise to last, contact marks, therefore good fine (5) £500-£700

D.S.M. London Gazette 17 May 1918:
‘Services on the Mediterranean Station’

Leonard George Penney was born in Sheerness, Kent, on 23 August 1882 and was a dockyard apprentice before he entered naval service as a Shipwright on 29 July 1902. On the outbreak of the Great War, he was serving as a Shipwright 1st Class in H.M.S. Agamemnon, in which he remained until November 1917, and then, from February 1918, served in H.M.S. Wildfire. He was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 12 January 1920, and was shore pensioned on 28 July 1924.

Agamemnon was assigned to the Channel Fleet when the First World War began in 1914. The ship was transferred to the Mediterranean Sea with Lord Nelson in early 1915 to participate in the Dardanelles Campaign. She made a number of bombardments against Turkish fortifications and in support of British troops. Remaining in the Mediterranean after the conclusion of that campaign to prevent the German battlecruiser S.M.S. Goeben and light cruiser Breslau from breaking out into the Mediterranean. Agamemnon shot down the German Zeppelin LZ-55 (LZ-85) during a bombing mission over Salonica in 1916.

Note: The medal repeats the spelling (’Penny’ rather than ‘Penney’) as the entry appears in the London Gazette.