Medaler Posted 10 July , 2019 Share Posted 10 July , 2019 The latest edition to the collection is something that might be a bit unusual. I'm not saying "rare and highly desirable" - though they were desirable to me and I have (on and off) looked for a similar group for years without much success. Please note, I don't want to discuss values, they are not important because these are "keepers" and I find them fascinating. I would however welcome comments on how unusual they might be. Medals to the RN are something that I only flirt with occasionally, so I am not a "dyed in the wool" navy collector and am therefore a bit ignorant about them. Anyway, they are a 14/15 trio, with all three of the individual medals named with the same Rating of "Boy 1" My assumption is that the vast majority of those who qualified for the Star at this Rating would have had their BWM and VM's named to their older persona as a more senior Rating. As I say, I'm not claiming to have found a megga rarity, just an interesting piece of naval history that is perhaps a tad unusual. The recipient qualified for the medals by being aboard HMS Lowestoft at Helligoland Bight and was invalided out shortly after his return. I have his service sheet but am really struggling to read the reasons for this. If anyone would like a shot at helping me out with that, it would be appreciated. Please see picture. Warmest regards, Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wandererpaul Posted 10 July , 2019 Share Posted 10 July , 2019 If the man was invalided out, soon after returning home, how could his medals be engraved with a higher rank? if he left the Navy so soon after the battle that qualified him for the 1914/15 Star, then his medals would still be annotated to Boy, surely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRC Posted 10 July , 2019 Share Posted 10 July , 2019 11 minutes ago, Medaler said: The recipient qualified for the medals by being aboard HMS Lowestoft at Helligoland Bight and was invalided out shortly after his return. I have his service sheet but am really struggling to read the reasons for this. If anyone would like a shot at helping me out with that, it would be appreciated. Please see picture. Best guess Other. diseased(?) nervous system (mental) With "Other" being a category for classification. There may be a list somewhere that sets out these categories. Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medaler Posted 10 July , 2019 Author Share Posted 10 July , 2019 Many thanks for your input Peter. I agree with "nervous system (mental)" The bit underneath looks like "Cause of invdg {invaliding?} to public {carriage?} {Bah?} Scotland yard. July 1925" - I have no idea what that means either! Regards, Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medaler Posted 10 July , 2019 Author Share Posted 10 July , 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, wandererpaul said: If the man was invalided out, soon after returning home, how could his medals be engraved with a higher rank? if he left the Navy so soon after the battle that qualified him for the 1914/15 Star, then his medals would still be annotated to Boy, surely? Yes, that's exactly the point about what (I think) makes them unusual. He never attained a Rating higher than that of "Boy 1" whilst (I think) the overwhelming majority of those who got their Stars at that Rating would have had something else on their BWM and Vic. I think (though I may be wrong) that the only trios with that Rating on all 3 medals in the group would either have been invalided out or discharged dead having never obtained a higher Rating. Added to that of course is the interest that he was only 16 years old when present at Heligoland Bight - and (to me) is therefore a bit of social history. It throws a neglected light onto underage service which the army are frequently criticised for. The navy knew what they were doing, and even had "Boy" stamped into their medals. I find that an interesting aspect to the trio, but I'm always willing to concede that my collecting habits are "odd". I just like a good story! A (perhaps) thought provoking "conversation" trio? Regards, Mike Edited 10 July , 2019 by Medaler Used the word "interesting" far too many times! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRC Posted 10 July , 2019 Share Posted 10 July , 2019 1 hour ago, Medaler said: The bit underneath looks like "Cause of invdg {invaliding?} to public {carriage?} {Bah?} Scotland yard. July 1925" - I have no idea what that means either! If he was applying to be a taxi-driver or bus driver for a private company in London he might well have had to go through a number of checks including suitability. The Public Carriage Branch of Scotland Yard was responsible for issuing licences for drivers, but I've not found a source that specifies if that was all drivers or just commercial ones. Edit: - it still exists! https://www.kabsure.co.uk/public-carriage-office.html This set up probably only applied at the time in the London area, but they may have had a wider responsibility for such checks. Most likely your man put on his application form he was a War Pensioner and so a check was triggered to see if it might impinge on his ability to do the job. Would be interesting to know what his occupation was shown as on the 1939 National Register to see if his disability stopped him or not - assuming he was still alive. The 1939 National Register is available on both Ancestry and FMP. I've only ever seen the FMP versions of the original document, but if you find him there it's worthwhile looking at those originals. On FMP they have been scanned in such a way that you can see the first column of the facing page. The 1939 Register was used for various purposes up until the early nineties, but one during the war was controlling the issue of I.D. Cards. That first column contained Civil Defence role information and sometimes detail of previous military experience. It doesn't get transcribed so you have to look at the original. Hope that helps, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medaler Posted 10 July , 2019 Author Share Posted 10 July , 2019 Peter, That actually helps hugely. I had not thought of anything to do with vehicle driving, but I suspect you have that sorted for me. My sincere thanks for that, I was just going around in circles with it. The London area thing makes perfect sense as he was from West Ham. Unfortunately he sadly died before 1939. He obviously had a thing for transport - his record shows him as being a "Signal Box Lad" on the Great Eastern Railway before he joined the navy. Again, many thanks for making that connection for me. Regards, Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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