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Auction: 19002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 444

(x) A silver presentation medal awarded to Admiral of the Fleet Roger John Brownlow Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes of Zeebrugge and Dover, G.C.B., K.C.V.O., C.M.G., D.S.O.

French Marine Academy Prize Medal, 42mm, the reverse engraved 'Amiral de la Flotte Sir Roger Keyes', silver, hallmarks and stamped 'Argent' to rim, extremely fine

The career of Roger John Browlow Keyes remains one of the finest and most diverse of any man to hold the post of Admiral of the Fleet. Cecil Aspinall-Oglander's work of 1951, Roger Keyes: Being the Biography of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Keyes of Zeebrugge and Dover will surely be in the library of any interested party and gives far more useful insight and information than can be permitted in this entry.

Having showed spirit in his younger days, which included being amongst the first to scale the city walls at Pekin in 1900, he rose to high acclaim during the Great War. Mastermind of the raids on Zeebrugge and Ostend, Keyes rose to higher command in the inter-War period. When the Norway Debate was being held in the House of Commons in May 1940, he made perhaps his most theatrical and dramatic entrance. Breaking into the house in full dress uniform and medals, he proclaimed:

'Harwood and his captains are typical of the Navy to-day. There are hundreds of young officers who are waiting eagerly to seize Warburton-Lee's torch, or emulate the deeds of Vian of the "Cossack." One hundred and forty years ago, Nelson said, "I am of the opinion that the boldest measures are the safest," and that still holds good to-day.'

Liaison officer to Leopold III, King of the Belgians, he was subsequently raised to the peerage in 1943 and was the first Director of Combined Operations. The War had finished with heavy cost however, for Roger suffered smoke inhalation suffered as a result of Japanese diver-bombers which sent him to an early grave on Boxing Day 1945, whilst his son was killed in action in 1941, winning the Victoria Cross in the process; sold together with a worn George III Crown, engraved to the reverse 'Adrian Noel Keyes Born 25th Dec 1962', the recipient his grandson and copied research.

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Estimate
£140 to £180