Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Chief Stoker First Class W. H. Chard, Royal Navy, who served in H.M.S. Gloucester at the Battle of Jutland

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, no clasp (W. J. Chard. Lg. Sto. H.M.S. Niobe.); 1914-15 Star (174393. W. H. Chard. Ch. Sto., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (174393 W. J. Chard. Ch. Sto. R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., E.VII.R. (174393 W. H. Chard, Sto. P.O. H.M.S. Leander.) contact marks to first and last, otherwise very fine and better (5) £240-£280

William Henry Chard was born on 14 April 1873, at Shepton Mallet, Somerset. He commenced naval service as a Stoker Second Class in H.M.S. Vivid II, on 28 July 1893. He was appointed to H.M.S. Cambridge and was advanced to Stoker, on 1 July 1894, and to Leading Stoker Second Class, H.M.S. Trafalgar, on 5 February 1897. He was appointed to H.M.S. Niobe, on 28 January 1899, and advanced to Leading Stoker First Class on 13 March 1900. He was advanced Chief Stoker Third Class, H.M.S. Gloucester, on 1 February 1913, and Chief Stoker First Class on 15 March 1916. During the Great War he served in H.M.S. Gloucester, and was involved in the pursuit of the German battlecruiser Goeben and the light cruiser Breslau, in 1914, and later played a role in the Battle of Jutland. He was shore pensioned from H.M.S. Vivid II in May 1919.