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Auction: 24111 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 480

Family group:

A Great War casualty's campaign group of three awarded to Ordinary Telegraphist N. W. J. Blake, Royal Navy, who was killed in action in H.M.S. Hornet's close encounter with an Austrian destroyer flotilla in the Adriatic in April 1918

1914-15 Star (32553 N. W. J. Blake, B. Tel., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (32553 N. W. J. Blake, O. Tel., R.N.), good very fine

Stoker Petty Officer N. J. Blake, Royal Navy

British War Medal 1914-20 (144744 N. J. Blake, S.P.O., R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., E.VII.R. (N. J. Blake, Lg. Sto. 1 Cl., H.M.S. Renown), very fine (5)

A Great War and long service pair awarded to Stoker Petty Officer N. J. Blake, Royal Navy

British War Medal 1914-20 (144744 N. J. Blake, S.P.O., R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., E.VII.R. (N. J. Blake, Lg. Sto. 1 Cl., H.M.S. Renown), very fine (6)

Nicholas William John Blake was born at Saltash, Cornwall on 14 February 1899, the son of a naval stoker, and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in September 1914. His first seagoing appointment was as a Boy Telegraphist in the cruiser H.M.S. Donegal from May 1915 to August 1916, and he removed to the destroyer Hornet at the end of the latter year.

He was likewise employed, as an Ordinary Telegraphist, when Hornet and her consort Jackal engaged an Austro-Hungarian flotilla of five destroyers in the Adriatic on 22 April 1918. Hornet was hit by a salvo in the forward shell room and magazine, which caused an explosion, and the bridge and tiller flat received further hits, resulting in four killed and a dozen or more wounded.

Blake, who was likely stationed on the bridge, was among those killed. The 19-year-old son of Beatrice Louisa Blake of 12 Lockyer Terrace, Saltash, and the late Nicholas James Blake, he was originally buried at Valona, Albania. But his remains were removed to the Salonika (Lembet Road) Military Cemetery, Greece in the 1920s.

Nicholas James Blake, the above's father, was born in Saltash, Cornwall on 1 April 1868 and joined the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class in March 1888. Having undertaken a variety of seagoing appointments in the interim and been awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in May 1903, he was pensioned ashore in March 1910. He was briefly recalled to Vivid II in 1914, before being invalided from the service.

Nicholas James Blake, the above's father, was born in Saltash, Cornwall on 1 April 1868 and joined the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class in March 1888. Having undertaken a variety of seagoing appointments in the interim and been awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in May 1903, he was pensioned ashore in March 1910. He was briefly recalled to Vivid II in 1914, before being invalided from the service.

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Estimate
£100 to £140

Starting price
£70