Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Memorial Plaque (William Aaron Bennett) good very fine £60-£80

William Aaron Bennett was born in Worthing, Sussex, and served with the Royal Marine Light Infantry during the Great War. He was aboard H.M.S. Ramsey, an armed boarding steamer (previously requisitioned from the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company), when she intercepted a vessel flying the Russian flag in the North Sea. In fact it turned out to be the German Auxiliary Minesweeper SMS Meteor which promptly hoisted the German flag and opened fire at point blank range, crippling Ramsey, which was then hit amidships by a torpedo and sunk. Between 55 and 60 of her crew were killed and the surviving 43 taken prisoner. The next day Meteor was herself intercepted by British forces and, after transferring the prisoners to a neutral ships, she was scuttled. The surviving members of Ramsey’s crew were returned home in H.M.S. Undaunted. Bennett was amongst those killed, and he is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.