Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., V.R., wide suspension (Ts. Whitelaw. Qr. Mr. H.M.S. Topaze. 20 Yrs.) toned, nearly extremely fine £500-£600

Thomas Whitelaw was born in Glasgow on 9 April 1829, and joined the Navy as an Able Seaman aboard H.M.S. Ajax on 13 February 1852. He served in Colossus from October 1854 to February 1857, and was 2nd Captain of the Forecastle from October 1856. He served in the Coastguard as a Boatman from April 1857 to March 1862, before joining H.M.S. Phoebe in September 1862, advancing to Captain of the Forecastle in January 1863, and to Quarter-Master in August 1863. He was Quarter-Master in Nassau from June 1866, in Scout from October 1868, in Resistance from April 1869, and finally in Topaze from June 1871 to 8 October 1872.