Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Leading Sick Berth Attendant J. Coffell, Royal Navy

British War Medal 1914-20 (M. 9043 S.R.A., R.N.); Royal Naval Auxiliary Sick Berth Reserve L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 2nd issue, fixed suspension (1672 L.S.B.A., R.N.A.S.B.R.); Coronation 1911, St. John Ambulance Brigade issue (Pte.), surname spelt ‘Coffle’; St. John Service Medal (5852 Sgt., Felling Col. Div., No. 6 Dis., S.J.A.B., 1927), this last with re-pinned suspension claw, contact marks and edge bruising, otherwise generally very fine (4) £140-180

John Coffell, who was born at Whitehaven, Cumberland in February 1884, was by trade a miner, hence his membership of the Felling Colliery Division of the S.J.A.B. Also a pre-war member of the Royal Naval Auxiliary Sick Berth Reserve, he served aboard the Merchant Fleet Auxiliary ship Plassy from December of the same year until August 1915, when he came ashore ‘time expired’, services that qualified him for a 1914-15 Star trio. Awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in March 1931, he was re-mobilised in August 1939 and went on to win a Bar to his Medal in November 1936.