Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Royal Humane Society, small bronze medal (unsuccessful) (F. Willis, H.M.S. Bonaventure, Dec. 11 1898) worn £40-60

Frank Willis, Boy 1st Class, H.M.S. Bonaventure. ‘On the 11th December 1898, a stoker on H.M.S. Bonaventure fell overboard from a boat in the Pasig River at Manila. Willis plunged in and caught the man but was dragged under water and had to release his hold, the man being drowned’. (R.H.S. Case 29886).

Frank Willis entered the Royal Navy, aged 18 years, as a Boy 2nd Class in June 1896, being promoted Boy 1st Class in March 1897. He served on the Bonaventure during March 1898-August 1901, attaining the rank of Able Seaman in February 1900. He was awarded the R.H.S. Bronze Medal for the unsuccessful rescue of Stoker Hugh Herald who had fallen from a steam cutter and was drowned. In February 1911, after completing 12 years service he was transferred to the R.F.R. With the outbreak of war he returned to the Royal Navy, being based throughout the conflict on Leviathan in the West Indies. Sold with some copied research.