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Auction: 26001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 180

(x) Pair: Master's Assistant E. J. Welch, Royal Navy

Baltic 1854-55 (E. J. Welch. R.N.); Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Sebastopol (E. J. Welch. R.N.), both with engraved naming, very fine (2)

Edwin Jasper Welch is confirmed on the Crimea Medal roll and served on Himalaya as a Master's Assistant. The ship started life in the P&O service and was said at the time to be the biggest ship ever built. However, the ship was larger than what the passenger traffic demanded, and with the price of coal becoming increasingly expensive with the advent of the Crimean War, the company persuaded the British Government to buy the ship for £133,000. Thus the ship was purchased and converted to carry 3,000 soldiers, serving the country for the next four decades.

Himalaya saw operation during the Crimea, the Second Opium War, and carried troops to India, South Africa, the Gold Coast and North America. She retired from trooping service and was decommissioned on 28 September 1894.

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

Estimate
£200 to £300

Starting price
£160