The John Chidzey Collection

A Great War Gallipoli operations D.S.M. group of five awarded to Chief Petty Officer L. J. Hawkins, Royal Navy, who was decorated for his services in the battleship H.M.S. Glory

Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (207596 L. J. Hawkins, P.O., Gallipoli Opns., 1915-16); 1914-15 Star (207596 L. J. Hawkins, P.O., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (207596 L. J. Hawkins, P.O. 1, R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (207596 L. J. Hawkins, P.O., H.M.S. Renown), contact marks, generally very fine (5) £600-800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The John Chidzey Collection.

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D.S.M. London Gazette 15 May 1916:

‘In recognition of services rendered by Petty Officers and men of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron between the time of landing in the Gallipoli Peninsula in April 1915 and the evacuation in December 1915 - January 1916.’

Leonard John Hawkins was born in Fareham, Hampshire in September 1883 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in January 1900. A Leading Seaman serving in the battleship H.M.S. Glory on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he was quickly advanced to Petty Officer and, following convoy escort work in the Atlantic, arrived in the Dardanelles in April 1915. Glory was subsequently engaged off Gallipoli until the end of the year, and thrice came under heavy enemy bombardment in Suvla Bay in October.

Returning home to an appointment at the training establishment Vernon in April 1916, Hawkins removed to the battleship Renown that September, and remained similarly employed until brief spells at the torpedo establishment Defiance, and aboard the destroyer Tenacious, in July-August 1917. And his final wartime seagoing appointment was back in the Glory between October 1917 and October 1918, when he served in the British North Russia Squadron at Archangel.

Hawkins, who was awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in November 1916, finally came ashore as a Chief Petty Officer in September 1923.