Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Officer’s Steward Third Class R. L. T. Woolford, Royal Navy, who was killed when H.M.S. Laforey hit a mine off France, 23 March 1917
1914-15 Star (L.9555, R. L. T. Woolford, Ord. Smn., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (L.9555 R. L. T. Woolford. O.S. 3 R.N.) mounted for display, contact marks overall, therefore nearly very fine

1914-15 Star (306461. G. Upstall. S.P.O. R.N.) very fine (4) £80-£100

Richard Leonard Thomas Woolford was born in Balham, London in January 1897. He served as an Officer’s Steward 3rd Class with the destroyer H.M.S. Laforey from January 1917, and was killed when she hit a mine off France whilst returning from a successful convoy escort, 23 March 1917. The ship split in two, and only 18 of the crew survived. Woolford is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial.

George Upstall was born in Port Isaac, Cornwall in July 1884. He joined the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class in December 1904, and advanced to Stoker Petty Officer in May 1912. Upstall served during the Great War with H.M.S. Maori (destroyer), and was with her when she struck a mine in the North Sea and sank off Zeebrugge, 7 May 1915. He was listed as ‘Missing’, and later confirmed to have been taken prisoner of war, firstly interned in Germany and then transferred for internment to Holland.

Upstall was released in November 1918, and Shore Pensioned in June 1922.