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Auction: 26001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 123

'These men behaved with great gallantry and, turning up their coat-collars as if the pattering round them was only a rain shower, worked their teams with great coolness.'

So it was reported the Bluejackets performed under fire at Colenso

The campaign group of six awarded to Chief Petty Officer T. M. Webster, Royal Navy, who was severely wounded when a shell exploded on his 12-pounder gun at the Battle of Colenso - having been landed as a Bluejacket from Terrible

Queen's South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith (189466: A.B. T. M. Webster, H.M. Terrible.), officially engraved naming; China 1900, no clasp (T. M. Webster, A.B., H.M.S. Terrible.); 1914-15 Star (189466, T. M. Webster, P.O., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (189466 T. M. Webster. Act. C.P.O. R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R. (189466 T. M. Webster. P.O. H.M.S. Pembroke.), contact marks, very fine (6)

Thomas Manton Webster was born at Whitechapel, London on 4 July 1880 and would probably have been walking the local streets of his local area at the same that 'Jack the Ripper' was prowling them a decade later.

An errand by upon his joining the Royal Navy in July 1896, he joined the books of Terrible in April 1898, a vessel he would serve until October 1900.

It would be at the Battle of Colenso, serving as a Bluejacket in Lieutenant Ogilvy's 12-pounder Battery of four guns, Webster would serve on Petty Officer Ward's No. 3 Gun. On that day the unit had exchanged shells with the Boers, one of which struck his Battery and caused Webster grave wounds, as recalled in Commission of the Terrible. His Service Record notes:

'Wounds at shoulder & 4th toe of foot. Scar of shell wound on back.'

Having been tended and recovered, he was however fit to serve off the coast of China in 1900 and remained in the service. Taking his L.S. & G.C. in July 1913, during the Great War he served in Dominion from September 1913-December 1917. He was finally put ashore in August 1923.

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Estimate
£1,000 to £1,400

Starting price
£900