Orders, Decorations and Medals

Liverpool Medal for Heroism, silver, 50 mm, the reverse inscribed (Robert Stannard King, March 18th 1927) nearly extremely fine and rare £150-200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the collection of the late Mike Leahy.

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The following report was published in the Liverpool Echo on 18 March 1927: ‘A thrilling story of courageous efforts to save the lives of the two children, Michael and Francis Joseph O’Neill, who received fatal injuries in the fire at 33 Standish Street, Liverpool, on Wednesday, was told in the Liverpool Coroner’s Court today. Robert S. King, goods checker at the docks, said that about 8.45 p.m. he heard his wife crying out: “Oh, my God! the room’s on fire next door.” He ran out, and heard Mrs O’Neill’s voice saying, “My children are in the room. Will no one save them?” Rushing at once upstairs he tried to enter the blazing room, but flames and smoke drove him out. He seized clothes from a line on the landing, wrapped them round his face, and made his way to the burning bed. Francis was apparently dead. King saw Michael crying, picked him up and made for the door, but collapsed. He recovered consciousness in the street. The Coroner said “You seem to have done very well.” “I only did what any man would have done,” King replied. Henry Graham, another neighbour, told how he carried first Michael, then King from danger.’

Robert Stannard King was also awarded a silver Fire Medal by the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society for this rescue.