Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Chief Officer G. P. Bates, H.M. Coast Guard, late Royal Navy

South Africa 1834-53 (G. P. Bates. 2nd Class Ordy); Baltic 1854-55, unnamed as issued; Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 1 clasp, Alexandria 11th July (G. E. [sic] Bates. Ch. Offr. C. G. H.M.S. “Penelope.”); Khedive’s Star, dated 1882, unnamed as issued; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., V.R., narrow suspension (Geo. P. Bates Cmd. Boatmn. H.M. Coast Gd.) engraved naming, loosely mounted in this order, toned, light contact wear, otherwise very fine or better, the group unique to a Coast Guard Officer (5) £1,400-£1,800

Dix Noonan Webb, June 2006.

George P. Bates was born at Harwich, Essex, in August 1836. He joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in 1849. Bates obtained the South Africa medal whilst serving with H.M.S. Castor as a 2nd Class Ordinary Seaman, and the Baltic medal as an Ordinary Seaman aboard the Duke of Wellington. In November 1858 he was accepted into the Coast Guard Service and held, for the purposes of pay, on the books of H.M.S. Penelope. Bates became a Commissioned Boatman in April 1875 and rose to be a Chief Officer in December 1877, after which date his name is included in the Navy list. His Service Sheet gives no indication that he went to sea in Penelope out to Alexandria, but his medal and clasp are both fully confirmed on the roll, and is believed to be one of only two known instances of an Egypt medal to an officer of the Coast Guard. Bates was pensioned off on 21 June 1891, after 42 years’ service, having received his L.S. & G.C. medal without Gratuity in August 1875.

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