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

Three: Fireman A. C. Wheaton, London Fire Brigade, late Able Seaman, Royal Navy

China 1900, no clasp (A.B., H.M.S. Undaunted); Coronation 1911, London Fire Brigade (Fireman); L.C.C. Fire Brigade Good Conduct Medal, 3rd type (Fireman), good very fine (4) £180-220

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Fire Brigade Medals.

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Albert Charles Wheaton was born in Queenstown, Cork on 1 April 1880. A labourer by occupation he volunteered for the Royal Navy on 15 August 1896 as a Boy 2nd Class. He was promoted an Ordinary Seaman in April 1898 and an Able Seaman in January 1900. He served aboard the Undaunted in the China Campaign of 1900 and was discharged at the end of his period of service in February 1907. He later served as a Fireman in the London Fire Brigade.

Sold with a medal commemorating the entertainment given by the enlisted men of the U.S. North Atlantic Fleet to the enlisted men of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron, at Stauch's, Coney Island, New York on 13 November 1905. Also sold with a parchment copy and a damaged paper copy of the Royal Navy Certificate of Service and with two hand-written reports concerning the rescue of a boy from drowning:

'I submit that about 8-10 pm of June [24th] my attention was called to a boy drowning in the Regents Canal close to my Fire Station, I at once made to & climbed the gates of the St. Pancras Borough Councils yard & dropped the other side, I could then see the boy being dragged on to the opposite bank to where I was, I then jumped on to a sailing barge laying along side the west bank; there was a boat on this barge .... with the assistance of P. H. Poole succeeded in lowering & launching it, we then jumped into the boat & made for the opposite bank where this boy lay apparently dead; jumping ashore I at once started performing artificial respiration ... during which time Dr Wheeler arrived ... after performing artificial respiration for about 15 minutes he showed signs of life; blankets were obtained from the Fire Station which were wrapped around him. Poole & I then got him into the boat & brought him over to the west bank of the canal, I then carried him to the fire station ... he was then removed by an L.C.C. Ambulance to the Temperance Hospital, Hampstead Road. Albert Charles Wheaton'.