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Auction: 24003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 146

(x) An unusual Second World War M.B.E. group of five awarded to Warrant Officer H. Nickson, Royal Air Force, late Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, who saw service with the Royal Naval Division at Antwerp in 1914, later serving with the Peel Castle when she captured the German spy Franz von Rintelen

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Military Division, 2nd Type, Member's (M.B.E.) breast Badge; 1914 Star, clasp (M1/214. H. Nickson, Ord. Sea. R.N.V.R. Hood Bttn. R.N.D); British War and Victory Medals (M.1-214 H. Nickson. A.B. R.N.V.R.), BWM with officially re-impressed naming; Royal Air Force L.S. & G.C., G.V.R. (353008. Act/Sgt. H. Nickson. R.A.F.), very fine (5)

M.B.E. London Gazette 28 May 1943.

Harry Nickson was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire on 25 June 1896 and joined the Mersey Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as an Able Seaman in July 1914, direct from his appointment as an apprentice shipwright.

Drafted to Hood Battalion, Royal Naval Division, he was embarked for Antwerp shortly after the outbreak of hostilities, from whence he returned to the U.K. at the end of October 1914 and was 'discharged to Victory for sea service.' He subsequently served in the armed boarding vessels Partridge (November 1914-March 1915) and Peel Castle (March 1915-May 1918), in which he served as a gunner.

As part of the Downs Boarding Flotilla, a component of the Dover Patrol, Peel Castle was particularly active in pursuing and boarding suspicious merchantmen. Among enemy personnel she picked-up hiding in neutral ships was Franz von Rintelen, Admiral Tirpitz's infamous agent. Peel Castle later moved to the Orkney Islands, where she patrolled north of Shetland, latterly with an extended boat deck for kite balloons.

Demobilised in February 1919, Nickson tired with civilian life and enlisted in the Royal Air Force as an A.C. 2 at Uxbridge in January 1923. An early appointment to 'M' Squadron in Iraq in 1923-24 witnessed him re-enacting his old wartime role as a gunner in local defence vessels. Details of his subsequent career are currently unavailable, but he was advanced to Warrant Officer in October 1940.

Subject to 5% tax on Hammer Price in addition to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium.

Estimate
£300 to £500

Starting price
£240