Orders, Decorations and Medals

The “Yangtze incident” M.B.E. attributed to William Sudbury, a Shanghai Pilot who accompanied H.M.S. London on her attempt to assist the Amethyst on 20-21 April 1949: he had earlier served in the Mercantile Marine in the Great War and as a Lieutenant in the Royal Australian Navy in the 1939-45 War

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Civil) Member’s 2nd type breast badge, extremely fine £600-800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Ron Penhall Collection.

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M.B.E. London Gazette 25 April 1950. The recommendation states:

‘With reference to the Yangtze incident last year, the First Lord of the Admiralty has recommended the award of the M.B.E. (Civil Division) to Mr. William Sudbury, Pilot, for his services in H.M.S. London.

Mr. Sudbury, aged 50, was a Whangpoo River Pilot but had much pre-war experience of the Yangtze. He readily volunteered at immediate notice, although he had no opportunity of informing his family beforehand, to embark in H.M.S. London in case the Chinese pilots should prove unreliable in the event of any shooting.

H.M.S. London, when proceeding up river in an endeavour to assist H.M.S. Amethyst, was fought with great gallantry in the seven engagements with the People’s Liberation Army batteries on 21 April, often at point blank range. Mr. Sudbury’s unfailing resource and cheerfulness and consistently sound advice on the navigation of the Yangtze river were invaluable, particularly after one Chinese pilot had been killed and the other had disappeared between decks. His service under such exacting conditions were worthy of the highest praise.

I would be glad to know in due course if your Committee approves the award recommended.’

William Sudbury was born in Liverpool in 1899 and first went to sea with the Mercantile Marine in the Great War, services that qualified him for the award the British War and Mercantile Marine War Medals. In the mid-1920s he was appointed a Master with the Shell Company of China, remaining similarly employed until he joined the Shanghai Pilot Service in 1936. And during the 1939-45 War he was commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy in 1941, ‘and for 21 months commanded a minesweeper fitted for sweeping magnetic, acoustic and moored mines - the rest of the time he served as a pilot, returning to Shanghai in November 1945’. Of his subsequent exploits aboard London during the Yangtze incident, further details appeared in the Liverpool Daily Post, 4 July 1949:

‘One of the treasured possessions of Shanghai pilot, Captain William Sudbury, of Liverpool, is a signal from Rear-Admiral C. E. Madden, in charge of British Naval Forces on the Yangtze when H.M.S. Amethyst, Consort and eventually London, became involved in the shooting incident in April with Communist artillery on the banks of the river. It reads: “Very many thanks for your invaluable services in trying conditions. Au revoir and the best of good luck.” Captain Sudbury was on the bridge of the cruiser London on 21 April when she endeavoured to run the gauntlet of shore artillery and reach the crippled Amethyst. He was just behind the navigator when he was mortally wounded, the Chinese pilot killed outright, and Captain Cazalet, in command of London, wounded. “It was a warm time,” Captain Sudbury said. “The most unpleasant three and a half hours I have ever experienced.” He brought London, considerably battered about the bridge, back to Shanghai, and was thanked by the Admiral.’

Sudbury retired to Vancouver, British Columbia.

Sold with a quantity of documentation, including the recipient’s original M.B.E. warrant, dated 25 April 1950, in the name of ‘William Sudbury, Esq.’, framed and glazed; together with a quantity of newspaper cuttings from 1949, reporting on his exploits in the Yangtze incident, and several letters addressed to his daughter in the late 1970s, mainly as a result of her enquiries to ascertain details of her late father’s career in the Merchant Navy.