Auction Catalogue

23 September 2005

Starting at 11:00 AM

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

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

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Lot

№ 1059

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23 September 2005

Hammer Price:
£5,800

An extremely rare 1st and 2nd China Wars and Franklin Search Expedition pair to Chief Engineer W. Ibbett, Royal Navy

China 1842, 1 clasp, China 1842 (William Ibbett, H.M.S. Vixen), original straight bar suspension with minor adaptation to take clasp; Arctic Medal 1818-55, unnamed as issued, suspension refixed, good very fine (2) £3000-3500

William Joseph Ibbett entered the Royal Navy in September 1841 as an Engineer’s Boy 4th Class serving aboard the Vixen. On her, he saw service in the First China War of 1842, with men of the Vixen taking part in the storming and capture of the city of Chin-Keang-Foo at the entrance of the South Grand Canal on the Yangtse-Kiang. Promoted Assistant Engineer 2nd Class in September 1846 and Engineer 1st Class in October 1851.

Ibbett served as Second Engineer on the
Intrepid, 1852-54, on the last Government funded Franklin Search Expedition. Five ships were sent out under the command of Sir Edward Belcher - the Assistance, Pioneer, Resolute, Intrepid and North Star. Belcher was ordered to proceed to Beechey Island where the North Star was to remain as the depot ship whilst the Assistance and Pioneer were to proceed northward up the Wellington Channel and the Resolute and Intrepid were to sail west for Melville Island. Reaching Beechey Island by mid-1852, the ships then proceeded to their allotted stations. Heavy ice prevented the Resolute and Intrepid from reaching Melville Island and so based on Dealy Island nearby, preparations were made to carry out sledging journeys during the Autumn of 1852 and Spring of 1853 across to Melville Island. Ibbett is confirmed as having taken part in a sledging journey in British Polar Expeditions and Research. The sledging expeditions were successful in locating the men of the stranded Investigator (a ship of the 1850-53 Search Expedition) and discovering several new islands in the vicinity of Melville Island. The five ships were somewhat unfortunate in the latter part of the expedition, with the Assistance, Pioneer and Resolute all having to be abandoned to the ice.

Ibbett was promoted Engineer in October 1854 and attained the rank of Chief Engineer in December 1859. Appointed to the Iron Screw troopship
Urgent on the 9th of that month, he subsequently took part in the operations off the coast of China, for which he gained entitlement to the clasp ‘China 1842’.

In the latter years of his naval career, Ibbett’s service papers reveal a personal tragedy. An entry dated 1869 reads, ‘Wishes an early appointment, wife is a lunatic, has to employ a person for the care of his home’. Chief Engineer Ibbett retired from the Navy on 11 May 1876 and died on 2 December 1887. Sold with copied service papers and other research.