Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Able Seaman T. Tassell, Royal Navy
1914-15 Star (237735, T. Tassell, A.B., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (237735 T. Tassell. A.B. R.N.) very fine

Pair: Electrical Artificer First Class R. C. Tassell, Royal Navy
British War Medal 1914-20 (M.28977 R. C. Tassell. E.A.4 R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 3rd issue, coinage head (M.28977 R. C. Tassell. E.A. 1, H.M.S. Cornwall.) light contact marks, very fine or better (5) £80-£120

Thomas Tassell was born in Hastings, Sussex in September 1890 and enlisted into the Royal Navy in November 1906 as a Boy Second Class. In the Great War he saw operational service aboard the pre-dreadnought battleship H.M.S. Agamemnon and was in her crew at the time of the ship’s heavy engagement during the Dardanelles campaign of 1915. In February 1918, Tassell was posted to the battlecruiser H.M.S. Inflexible and was present at Scapa Flow for the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet on 21 November 1918. He joined the Royal Fleet Reserve in January 1920 and was recalled between April and June 1921 for service at the shore establishment H.MS. Pembroke.

Reginald Clive Tassell was born in Rushden, Northamptonshire in October 1891 and enlisted into the Royal Navy in January 1918 as an Electrical Artificer Fifth Class, serving the remainder of the Great War at the shore establishment H.M.S. Vernon. After a posting aboard the dreadnought battleship H.M.S. Monarch, he was transferred to the icebreaker H.M.S. Alexander in October 1919, at the time it was handed over to the White Russians. Between 1925 and 1928, Tassell was attached to the Fleet Air Arm serving aboard the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Furious and at R.A.F. Gosport. He was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in June 1933 while on the crew of the heavy cruiser H.M.S. Cornwall, having attained the rate of Electrical Artificer First Class. Tassell saw active service during the Second World War aboard the depot ship H.M.S. Sandhurst. He was admitted to the Royal Naval Auxiliary Hospital Barrow Gurney in September 1940 and was invalided out of the service in November 1945.