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HMS Widgeon served between October 1899 and June 1901. Commanded by Lieutenant A F Gurney and Lieutenant W Forbes.


Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (1) Natal (W. Davison. E.R.A., HMS Widgeon) small impressed naming;
1914-15 Star (269719 W. Davison. C.E.R.A.2, R.N.);
BWM and VM (269719 W. Davison. C.E.R.A.1, R.N.);
Royal Navy LS&GC GV, 1st issue (269719 William Davison, C.E.R.A. 2Cl., HMS Pembroke)

Approximately 72 Queen’s South Africa Medals with clasp Natal awarded to HMS Widgeon.

William Davison was born in Alnwick, Northumberland, on 24 June 1873, and joined the Royal Navy as an Engine Room Artificer 4th Class on 8 May 1899. Joining HMS Widgeon on 16 June 1900 he served in her during the Boer War. Advanced Chief Engine Room Artificer 2nd Class on 9 November 1912, he was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 25 May 1914..

Following the outbreak of the Great War Davison was posted to HMS Doon on 7 August 1914, and was present in her when the Germany Imperial Navy bombarded Hartlepool. On the morning of 16 December 1914 the elderly destroyers Doon, Test, Waveney and Moy were on patrol 5 miles N.E. of Hartlepool, when in the mist they encountered the German battlecruisers Seydlitz and Moltke and the heavy cruiser Blücher on their way to bombard the port of Hartlepool. Doon tried to press home a torpedo attack, whilst Test, Waveney and Moy opened fire with their guns. Getting to 5,000 yards, Doon fired one torpedo, which missed. The German cruisers returned fire, gaining hits on Doon and Waveney. Hopelessly outgunned, the four destroyers made a swift escape, with Doon having suffered one man killed and 11 wounded. The German cruisers then went on to bombard Hartlepool. The town was hit by some 1150 shells which resulted in the death of 117 people. On the same day, cruisers Derfflinger, Von der Tann and Kolberg bombarded the North Yorkshire seaside towns of Scarborough and Whitby.

Promoted Chief Engine Room Artificer 1st Class on 1 November 1917, Davison was finally shore pensioned on 26 July 1921.

Picture courtesy of DNW

DSM GV (182937, A. C. Barrett, P.O. HMS Orotava. Dec. 1915 - June 1916);
QSA (1) Natal (A. C. Barrett, A.B., HMS Widgeon);
1914-15 Star (182937, A. C. Barrett P.O., R.N.);
[ BWM & VM ];
Royal Navy LS&GC EdVII (182937 A. C. Barrett, P.O., HMS Scylla)

DSM LG 25 October 1916: ‘HMS Orotava. Service with 10th Cruiser Squadron December 1915 to June 1916. Men whose services I consider to be worth of recognition.’ (ADM 137/1218/168 refers)

Alfred Charles Barrett was born at Gravesend, Kent, on 31 December 1877, and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class aboard HMS Northampton on 7 February 1895. He served as an Able Seaman aboard HMS Widgeon during the war in South Africa and was advanced to Leading Seaman in October 1901, becoming P.O.2 in January 1903, and P.O.1 in January 1904. He received his LS&GC medal aboard HMS Scylla on 7 August 1910. During the Great War he served aboard the armed merchant cruiser Orotava from 17 December 1914 to 2 September 1916. She was armed with five 6-inch guns and two 6-pounder H.A. guns and was commissioned on 17 December 1914, as part of the 10th Cruiser Squadron, from December 1914 to October 1916 with the Northern Patrol. Apart from short periods aboard Superb and Perth, he spent the remainder of the war based at Pembroke I, and was discharged to shore and demobilisation on 4 February 1919.

The incomplete group to PO Barrett sold for a hammer price of £650. Totals (inc VAT for UK only): £837. R15,900. Au$1,490. Can$1,390. US$1,130.

Picture courtesy of Morton and Eden

DSM GV (186278. A. J. Colyer. Yeo. Sigs. H.M.S. Kempenfelt. 31. May,- 1. June,1916);
QSA (1) Natal (A. J. Colyer. Qd. Sigln. H.M.S. Widgeon.);
1914-15 Star (186278. A. J. Colyer. Y.S. R.N.);
BWM and VM (186278 A. J. Colyer. Y.S. R.N.), the latter with official correction;
Royal Navy LS&GC GV (186278 A. J. Colyer, Yeo. Of Sigs. H.M.S. Venus).

DSM: London Gazette: 15.09.1916 -‘for services rendered in the action in the North Sea on the 31 May – 1 June 1916’

Yeoman of Signals Arthur John Colyer was born in October 1880 in Bracknell, Berkshire, entering the Royal Navy in November 1895 as a Boy 2nd Class. He reached the rank of Qualified Signalman just prior to the outbreak of hostilities in the Boer War, and served aboard the gunboat H.M.S. Widgeon between October 1899 and August 1901 – being later issued with a duplicate medal while serving aboard H.M.S. Research in June 1904.

Colyer was awarded a Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in November 1913, and during the first year of the Great War he served as a Yeoman of the Signals in the destroyers’ depot ship Woolwich. In September 1915, however, he returned to more active service with an appointment in the Destroyer flotilla leader H.M.S. Kempenfelt, of the 11th Destroyer Flotilla, in which ship he was present at the Battle of Jutland. At the outset of the battle the Kempenfelt and Castor took their position on the port bow of H.M.S. King George V, the leading battleship in the British line. Owing to serious confusion caused by heavy smoke and other tactical factors, the Kempenfelt somehow avoided the heaviest action despite repeated attempts to engage the enemy.

Arthur Colyer continued to serve until his return to England in June 1917, after which he was invalided from rheumatism in November 1919. Only 91 Queen’s South Africa Medals were awarded to H.M.S. Widgeon, 72 of which were for Natal, and of the six awards made after Jutland to the Kempenfelt, Colyer’s is the only D.S.M., and is therefore unique to the ship for this battle.

Ex Barrett J. Barr Collection of Boer War Medals, 7th March 2007

The group to Yeoman of Signals Arthur John Colyer is being offered again in the next Morton and Eden auction.