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Auction: 19002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 23

South Africa 1877-79, no clasp (Lieut: H. P. Harris, R.N. H.M.S. "Euphrates"), good very fine

Henry Paulet Harris was born on 12 March 1849 at Winchester, Hampshire and entered the Royal Navy on 10 March 1865, being commissioned Sub-Lieutenant on 18 June 1869. Joining Agincourt on 12 August 1869, Harris would be 'Recommended by [the] Captain for zeal at the grounding', a result of his ship running aground in 1871 on Pearl Rock, Gibraltar. Her Captain, Henry Hamilton Beamish (later Rear-Admiral) would face a Court Martial, with the matter being raised in Parliament. It was the fine work of men like Harris that prevented her total loss, by swiftly removing the guns and offloading most of her coal just in time before a large storm rolled in, which would have finished her.

Promoted Lieutenant on 23 September 1873, Harris served aboard Eurphrates from 26 May 1874, including the operations off South Africa. Promoted Lieutenant-Commander upon retirement in September 1881, he died on 6 May 1915; sold with copied service record and research.

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Sold for
£850