Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 19002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 58

The poignant Africa General Service Medal to Leading Stoker A. Willingham, who was killed in the explosion of H.M.S. Princess Irene in the Medway Estuary on 27 May 1915

Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, Somaliland 1908-10 (K.1016 A. Willingham, Sto. 1Cl., H.M.S. Hyacinth), edge bruising, good very fine

Albert Willingham was born at Sittingbourne, Kent on 4 January 1888. A General Labourer by occupation, he enlisted into the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class in July 1908. He subsequently joined H.M.S. Hyacinth in March 1909 for service off the coast of Somaliland (Medal & clasp) and in the Persian Gulf (Medal & clasp), being advanced to Stoker 1st Class in October 1909. During the Great War he served on the old battleship Mars, July-November 1914, then the scout cruiser Forward, November 1914-April 1915. He was promoted to Acting Leading Stoker in April 1915.

Leading Stoker Willingham was killed on 27 May 1915, aged 27 years, when serving on the converted minelayer Princess Irene. The vessel was moored in Saltpan Reach in the Medway Estuary, between Port Victoria and Sheerness. She was laden with 400 mines in preparation for a North Sea minelaying mission. At 11.15 a.m. on 27 May 1915 she blew up with terrific force, sending a column of debris 1,200 feet into the air. Flying wreckage caused injuries in Sittingbourne, 20 miles away, while on the Isle of Grain severed heads were found. A total of 352 men were killed, including 273 officers and men and 76 dockyard workers. Only one seaman and a few dockyard workers escaped the inferno. Willingham's service record states: 'Lost in H.M.S. Princess Irene'. His name is commemorated in Gillingham (Woodlands) Cemetery, Kent; sold with copied service papers and research.

Subject to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium. For more information please view Terms and Conditions for Buyers.

Sold for
£400