Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War D.S.M. group of five awarded to Leading Seaman J. Y. Hutcheon, Royal Naval Reserve

Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (C. 1354 J. Y. Hutcheon, Lg. Sea., R.N.R., Mediterranean, 27 Feb. 1917); 1914-15 Star (C. 1354 Smn., R.N.R.); British War and Victory Medals (1354C. L.S., R.N.R.); Royal Naval Reserve L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (C. 1354 Sean., R.N.R.), minor official correction to surname on the first, good very fine and better (5) £600-700

D.S.M. London Gazette 12 May 1917: ‘In recognition of zeal and devotion to duty shown in carrying on the trade of the country during the War.’

John Young Hutcheon was born in Aberdeen in May 1873 and enrolled in the Royal Naval Reserve in September 1899. Mobilised in August 1914, he attended, among other establishments, the gunnery school Excellent, prior to joining the armed merchant cruiser Caribbean that December. When the latter was re-converted to an accomodation ship in June 1915, he removed to another armed merchant cruiser, the Victorian, aboard which ship he served until December 1916, largely on the Northern Blockade. In that period the Victorian sank the Friedrich Asp, which was found off the Norwegian coast with a cargo of iron ore, and captured a Swedish ship laden with 7000 tons of the same, once again a cargo intended for the German war effort. Hutcheon ended his war with an appointment in President III, a depot for defensively equipped merchant vessels, where he served from 6 February 1917 until being demobilised in April 1919, but unfortunately his service record does not reveal the identity of the actual ship(s) aboard which he served in the same period. Most probably, however, his D.S.M. was awarded for a specific action against an enemy submarine. He was awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in August 1916.