Auction Catalogue

17 September 2004

Starting at 11:00 AM

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Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part I)

Grand Connaught Rooms  61 - 65 Great Queen St  London  WC2B 5DA

Lot

№ 1197

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17 September 2004

Hammer Price:
£1,900

A well-documented Great War destroyer operations D.S.C. group of six awarded to Commander R. C. Smith, Royal Navy

Distinguished Service Cross, G.V.R., reverse inscribed, ‘Lieut. R. C. Smith, R.N., Oct. 2nd 1917, H.M.S. Brisk’; 1914-15 Star (Mte., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Lieut., R.N.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45, nearly extremely fine (6)
£1000-1200

Nor, as confirmed by the same report, was the damage to the Brisk of a modest nature, her Captain stating that ‘the fore part of the ship to the foremost stokehold bulkhead was blown off’, a fact not lost on the gallant Smith, who had the sad duty of seeing the ship’s whaler pick up ‘several portions’ of human remains - 31 men were killed and another 11 wounded. Somewhat unusually, he received his decoration from the hands of the King at a special investiture held aboard H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth.

Smith’s final wartime appointments included the Paladin from December 1917 until October 1918, and his first command, the Dee, a month before the end of hostilities.

Placed on the Retired List at his own request in June 1922, he received promotion to Lieutenant-Commander (Retd.) in July 1924 and to Commander (Retd.) in July 1926. And on being recalled on the renewal of hostilities, he was no doubt delighted to find himself appointed to the command of the W.R.N.S. training establishment at Glen Holt camp, in which capacity he served until being placed on the Retired List in September 1945.

Sold with a good quantity of original documentation, including a letter from the Admiral Superintendent, Malta ordering the recipient to proceed overland to the U.K., via Italy and France, dated 25 September 1916; ship’s “flimsies” for service in H.M.S.
Brisk, dated 31 August and 17 December 1917 (‘To my entire satisfaction, most hard working, capable and reliable’); an old carbon copy of the Admiralty letter commending Smith and others of the Brisk following her mining, dated 7 November 1917, together with a printed “In Memoriam” card for those shipmates who died on the same occasion; an Admiralty letter forwarding a copy of the London Gazette in which Smith’s name appeared as mentioned in despatches, dated 16 May 1918; other Admiralty communications accepting the recipient’s request to be placed on the Retired List, dated 29 May 1922, and informing him of his promotion to Commander (Retd.), dated 24 November 1926; a Certificate of Service as Master of a Foreign-Going Ship, dated 18 May 1925; a contract of employment as Chief Officer of the training ship Cornwall, dated 1 February 1929; and two or three official letters pertinent to Smith’s time as C.O. of the training establishment at Glen Holt, one of them, from the Director of the W.R.N.S., dated 29 November 1944, commending his ‘excellent sloe gin - very welcome on such a cold morning!’; and two or three career photographs.