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Auction: 24002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 102

Five: Mechanician T. Killan, Royal Navy, who was awarded a rare Q.S.A. named to H.M.S. Ophir

Queen's South Africa 1899-1902, no clasp (284177 Stoker T. Killan, R.N., H.M.S. Ophir); 1914-15 Star (284177, T. Killan, Mech., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (284177 T. Killan. Mech. R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R. (284177 Thomas Killan, Mechn, H.M.S. Fisgard), edge bruise to first and light contact marks overall, very fine and rare (5)

53 Medals were presented to the men of H.M.S. Ophir in March 1901 however not all are named to that ship.

Thomas Killan was born at Widnes, Lancashire on 12 June 1878 and enlisted as Stoker Class II on 15 December 1896. Posted to Powerful on 8 June 1897 he was advanced Stoker with the ship the next year and entered the Anglo-Boer War with her. Killan was not posted ashore during the fighting and left her in June 1900, being posted to the Royal Yacht Ophir on 8 March 1901.

This vessel left Portsmouth on 16 March to carry the future George V and his wife Mary of Teck on a Royal Tour of the Empire. Prior to leaving King Edward VII presented 53 medals to the men of Ophir who had served in the Anglo-Boer War. The ship did stop in South Africa on its tour and the Royal couple brought with them 6054 engraved medals and 5006 unengraved medals to be distributed on the tour.

The tour ended in November 1901 and Killan joined the dispatch boat Enchantress, serving with her until 1903. Posted Leading Stoker with the Battleship Prince of Wales in 1905 and Stoker Petty Officer with the shore base Vernon in 1907. He specialised as a Mechanician in 1910 with the shore base Indus at Devonport. Still serving in that rank on the outbreak of the Great War he was serving with the Battleship Queen and saw action in 1914 supporting British and Belgian troops off the coast.

She was to perform the same role during the Dardanelles Campaign from March 1915, supporting the Cape Helles Landings and the landings at Gaba Tepe. As the campaign ground to a halt, Queen was ordered to the 2nd Detached Squadron and spent the rest of the war upholding the Otranto Barrage, becoming a depot ship in 1917. Killan was discharged on 11 August 1919 and joined the coastguard on 15 October 1919; sold together with copied service papers and medal rolls and a C.D. of copied research.

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Sold for
£550

Starting price
£450