Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Sailmaker Henry Twyman, Royal Navy

China 1857-60, 1 clasp, Canton 1857, unnamed as issued; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., V.R., wide suspension (H. Twyman. Sailmr. H.M.S. Cruiser. 23. Yrs.) good very fine (2) £600-£800

Henry Twyman was born in West Cowes, Isle of Wight, on 5 September 1810, and entered the Royal Navy aboard the brig sloop Savage on 15 September 1837. That he was rated Able Seaman on entry indicates that he was already trained to the sea and, during the almost 8 years that he was in Savage, he was variously rated as Able Seaman and Quarter-Master but mostly as a Sailmaker. He joined the packet brig Pandora as Quarter-Master on 20 February 1845, being rated Able Seaman from 8 August to 10 November, 1849, when he reverted to Quarter-Master until ‘paid off’ a week later. He is next found as a Seaman Rigger at the Devonport Yard, where he served from 22 January 1850 to 20 May 1852. He joined the paddle sloop Buzzard as a Sailmaker on 21 May 1852, and lastly joined the wooden screw sloop Cruizer on 16 July 1856, rated once more as Sailmaker, seeing service in this vessel during the Canton operations of 1857, for which he received the China medal with clasp. He received his L.S. & G.C. medal aboard Cruizer on 23 April 1861, and was finally paid off at Portsmouth on 1 May 1861. Sold with copied record of service.