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Auction: 11007 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 6

A Superb C.M.G., ´Gallipoli´ D.S.O., and Rare ´Archangel Command´ Albert Medal Group of Eight to Captain G.P. Bevan, Royal Navy, Who Extricated a Trapped and Wounded Seaman From a Burning Munitions Ship in the Port of Archangel, 8.11.1916, Despite Small Arms Ammunition Exploding All Around Him a) The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and George, Companion´s (C.M.G.) neck Badge, silver-gilt and enamel b) Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar c) Albert Medal, Second Class, For Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea, bronze and enamel, the reverse officially engraved, ´Presented By His Majesty To Capt. George Parker Bevan C.M.G., D.S.O. For Gallantry In Saving Life From the Burning S.S. "Earl of Forfar" After the Explosion at Bakaritsa On the 8th November 1916.´ d) 1914-15 Star (Commr. G.P. Bevan. R.N.) e) British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oakleaves (Commre. 2 CI. G.P. Bevan. R.N.) f) France, Republic, Legion of Honour, Officer´s breast Badge, 52mm including wreath suspension x 40mm, gold and enamel, poincon mark to reverse, with rosette on riband g) Russia, Imperial, Order of St. Anne, Third Class neck Badge, by Eduard, St. Petersburg, 44mm, gold (56 zolotniki) and enamel, maker´s mark on reverse, 1908-17 kokoshnik mark and gold mark to suspension ring, extremely fine, with Great War Bronze Memorial Plaque, ´George Parker Bevan´ and bullion cap badge, all housed in a glazed and hinged mahogany display case, with a large framed and glazed portrait photograph of recipient in uniform (8) Estimate £ 15,000-20,000 C.M.G. London Gazette 3.6.1918 Captain George Parker Bevan, R.N., D.S.O. (Commodore 2nd Class) ´In recognition of valuable services rendered during the War.´ D.S.O. London Gazette 14.3.1916 Bevan, George Parker, Commander, R.N. ´Has done continuous patrol work with great zeal and energy, and carried out valuable feints at landings in the Gulf of Xeros on 6 and 7 Aug. during the landing at Suvla.´ A.M. London Gazette 9.7.1918 Captain George Parker Bevan, C.M.G., D.S.O., R.N. ´For gallantry in saving life at sea. On the 8th November, 1916, a series of explosions and fires occurred at Bakaritsa, Port of Archangel, on merchant ships and on the wharves. The S.S. Baron Driesen had blown up at 1pm and part of the S.S. Earl of Forfar forty minutes later, and fresh explosions were expected every instant. It was thought that all their crews had either escaped or been killed or rescued, but after dark cries of distress were heard from the Earl of Forfar. The ship was a mass of flame at the time, and burning embers from the fire which was raging on shore were continually showered over her. She had a cargo of explosives on board and was abreast of the main conflagration. The flames were blown towards her by the wind, and the remaining portion of the ship was expected to be blown up at any moment. Captain Bevan, however, on hearing the cries proceeded on board, accompanied by Lieutenant-Commander MacMahon, and, hearing moans from under the smouldering debris of the forecastle, cleared away the wreckage and extricated the mate, who had an arm and a leg and his collarbone broken, and passed him into a tug. Captain Bevan displayed the utmost gallantry and disregard of his personal safety.´ France, Legion of Honour, Officer London Gazette 7.6.1918 Capt. George P. Bevan, C.M.G., D.S.O., R.N. (Cdr., 2nd Cl.) Russia, Order of St. Anne, Second Class, London Gazette 27.2.1917 Captain George P. Bevan, D.S.O., R.N. Captain George Parker Bevan, C.M.G., D.S.O., A.M. (1878-1920), born Staines, second son of sixteen children, including four pairs of twins; joined Royal Navy as Naval Cadet, 1894; was a gunnery specialist and passed for the rank of Lieutenant with "Firsts" in every subject after only one years service as Sub-Lieutenant; Lieutenant 1899; served at Sheerness Gunnery School, March 1906-August 1908; advanced Commander 22.6.1911; appointed Naval Secretary to the Ordnance Board, Woolwich, April 1913; continued to serve in this capacity at the outbreak of the Great War, and received a letter of Appreciation from their Lordships for his invention of a quick firing gun; appointed to the Command of the Armed Trawler Emir, ´in March, 1915, he was selected to command a flotilla of some 50 trawlers and drifters fitting out for the Dardanelles and he remained in the Eastern Mediterranean until the evacuation of Gallipoli, when he was awarded the D.S.O. and promoted Captain, June 1916´ (The Distinguished Service Order 1886-1923, refers); appointed as P.T.N.O. to the Staff of the Governor-General of the Province of Archangel, 7.4.1916, where he was in charge of the landing and transport of munitions to the Russian front (C.M.G. and promoted Commodore); it was whilst unloading such munitions that, ´disaster struck on 8 November 1916 at Bakarista, Port of Archangel, North Russia when the merchant ship S.S. Baron Driesen blew up at 1pm. Desperate attempts were made to move other ships away but at 1.40pm the after part of S.S. Earl of Forfar also exploded. Before that ship´s master, Capt. James Campbell Hurry, tried to return to his vessel but, being unable to do so, helped other vessels in danger of being burned. While doing so he heard voices coming from his own ship which was burning and exploding furiously so he led volunteers aboard and saved several men, having to lift live shells as he went. Ten minutes later the deck blew up. The ship was a mass of flame and burning embers from fires blazing ashore were being showered on her. A one-hundred-ton floating crane was moored between the quay and the ship and, after dark, cries were heard coming from the crane. To reach it, it was necessary to cross the ship which had a cargo of explosives aboard but, as Capt. George Parker Bevan and Lt. Cdr. Maurice McMahon were doing so they heard moans coming from under the smouldering debris of the forecastle. Helped by the crew of the tug Sunderland Lt. Edward Henry Richardson, Second Engineer Christopher Watson and A.B.s James Dixon Henry and Malcolm Thompson, all of whom had volunteered, they set about extricating the casualty. Ignoring the intermittent explosions from small arms ammunition they cleared away the wreckage and freed the mate of the Earl of Forfar - his arm, leg and collar bone broken - and passed him to the tug. Lt. Cdr. McMahon then crossed to the crane on a single plank and finding the ship´s carpenter under the crane together with two Russian members of its crew rescued them all´ (Heroic Endeavour, D.V. Henderson, G.M., refers); all six named individuals received Albert Medals, Second Class for their gallantry during this incident; in February 1918 Bevan was recalled to London and appointed Naval Assistant Director of Transports and Shipping; he accompanied the Allied Naval Commission to Germany, December 1918; appointed to the command of H.M.S. Triad, October 1919, for passage to the Persian Gulf to take up duties as Senior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf; arrived in Aden, 14.1.1920; Bevan had been suffering from severe headaches for some time and had been advised by his doctor to take some leave, however, he insisted on putting in the necessary sea time required before his promotion; upon arriving at Aden, family tradition has it that, Bevan went ashore to call upon the Governor and as the two men shook hands he removed his hat, collapsed and died; Bevan had died of a brain tumour, he was buried in Maala Cemetery, Yemen. At the time of the award of Bevan´s Russian Order, following the Bolshevik uprising, the production and supply of Russian Orders was severely disrupted, and consequently were often hard to obtain. As a result, Imperial Russian Awards to British servicemen during the latter half of the Great War and Allied Intervention are sometimes numismatically incorrect or incomplete, as insignia was issued with what was available. It seems probable that at the time of the presentation of the Second Class Order of St. Anne to Captain Bevan the only insignia available was a Second Class Badge without swords.

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£28,000