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Auction: 24003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 104

A Great War casualty group of three awarded to Able Seaman W. Olley, Royal Navy, who was killed in action on 20 January 1918 whilst serving aboard H.M.S. Raglan

Queen's South Africa 1899-1902, 1 clasp, Cape Colony (W. Olley. A.B. H.M.S. Doris); British War and Victory Medals (176879 W. Olley. A.B. R.N.), good very fine (3)

William Olley was born in February 1878 at Cranham, Essex, and joined the Royal Navy on 19 October 1893. During the Anglo-Boer War, the cruiser H.M.S. Doris was flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Harris, and landed guns and men to participate in the conflict ashore. During the Great War, Olley was a member of the ships' company of the monitor H.M.S. Raglan; this vessel was sent to the Dardanelles in June 1915 and was still there in 1918 when, on 20 January, she and fellow monitor M 28 were attacked by the Turkish (ex-German) battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim and Midilli; the British ships were sunk and Olley was one of 127 men of Raglan to lose their lives. Aged 39 and husband of Edith Olley of Stratford, London, he is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial.

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Estimate
£160 to £200

Starting price
£130