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Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (2) Cape Colony, South Africa 1901 (W. S. Elsdon, Ord., H.M.S. Naid.[sic]) clasps neatly added to reflect entitlement;
AGS 1902 (1) Somaliland 1902-04 (W.S. Elsdon, A.B., H.M.S. Naiad);
NGS (1) Persian Gulf 1909-1914 (205093 W. S. Elsdon, A.B. H.M.S. Fox);
1914-15 Star (205093, W. S. Elsdon, A.B., R.N.);
British War and Victory Medals (205093 W. S. Elsdon. A.B. R.N.);
Defence Medal;
Royal Navy LS&GC GV (205093. W. S. Elsdon, A.B. H.M.S. Victory) with officially corrected number

Walter Samuel Elsdon was born in Lambeth in 1883 and enlisted as a Boy 2nd Class in 1899 and served in the usual range of warships and shore stations until discharged ‘time expired’ in 1913. During this time he served in South Africa with a naval party of some 117 men landed from HMS Naiad at Saldhana Bay, Western Cape, for service against Boer commandos said to be operating in the Vredenburg area.

He was then deployed in operations off Somaliland in the same ship, 1902-04, and then aboard HMS Fox for the anti-gun-running operations in the Persian Gulf, serving on the station 1910-12.

Recalled for service in the Great War, ex RFR, Elsdon spent most of that period aboard the 2nd Class Cruiser HMS Venus, which service included Atlantic Patrols off Western Ireland, extensive service in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, Dutch East Indies, Colombo, Singapore and Hong Kong. He is one of a group noted in the ship’s logs as leaving the ship in April 1918 at Colombo for return to the UK. He served as a qualified Diver from at least 1905 to 1916, and was discharged from HMS Victory in June 1921.

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (2) Cape Colony, South Africa 1901, second clasp loose on riband, as issued (H. W. Freeland, A.B. H.M.S. Naiad.) impressed naming, minor official correction to surname;
AGS 1902 (1) Somaliland 1902-04 (H. W. Freeland, A.B. H.M.S. Naiad.)

Harry William Freeland was born in Ore, Hastings, Sussex, on 2 July 1876 and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Second Class on 21 March 1892. Advanced Petty Officer Class II on 13 April 1899, he reverted to Able Seaman on 25 January 1901, and served in HMS Naiad from 19 March 1901 until 2 August 1904, on which date he purchased his discharge.

He saw further service at home during the Great War as a Sergeant in the Royal Army Service Corps, although was not entitled to any medals.

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (2) Cape Colony, South Africa 1901 (W. S. Elsdon, Ord., H.M.S. Naid.) clasps neatly added to reflect entitlement;
AGS 1902 (1) Somaliland 1902-04 (W.S. Elsdon, A.B., H.M.S. Naiad);
NGS 1915 (1) Persian Gulf 1909-1914 (205093 W. S. Elsdon, A.B. H.M.S. Fox);
1914-15 Star (205093, W. S. Elsdon, A.B., R.N.);
British War and Victory Medals (205093 W. S. Elsdon. A.B. R.N.);
Defence Medal;
Royal Navy LS*GC GV, 1st issue (205093. W. S. Elsdon, A.B. H.M.S. Victory) officially corrected number.

Walter Samuel Elsdon was born in Lambeth in 1883 and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in 1899, serving in the usual range of warships and shore stations until discharged ‘time expired’ in 1913. During this time he served in South Africa with a naval party of some 117 men landed from HMS Naiad at Saldhana Bay, Western Cape, for service against Boer commandos said to be operating in the Vredenburg area.

He was then deployed in operations off Somaliland in the same ship, 1902-04, and then aboard HMS Fox for the anti-gun-running operations in the Persian Gulf, serving on the station 1910-12.

Recalled for service in the Great War, ex RFR, Elsdon spent most of that period aboard the 2nd Class Cruiser HMS Venus, which service included Atlantic Patrols off Western Ireland, extensive service in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, Dutch East Indies, Colombo, Singapore and Hong Kong. He is one of a group noted in the ship’s logs as leaving the ship in April 1918 at Colombo for return to the UK. He served as a qualified Diver from at least 1905 to 1916, and was discharged from HMS Victory in June 1921.

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (2) Cape Colony, South Africa 1901 (Lieut. E. S. Carey, R.N., H.M.S. Naiad.);
AGS 1902 (2) Somaliland 1902-04, Jidballi (Lieut. E. S. Carey, R.N. H.M.S. Naiad.)

Ernest Sausmarez Carey was born in Malvern, Worcestershire, on 12 March 1872, and entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet in Britannia in January 1885 aged 12 years.

His first seagoing appointment was as Midshipman in HMS Temeraire in the Mediterranean and his first experience of active service anti-slavery operations in the Garnet’s boats on the East Indies station in 1887-90. In August 1892 he joined the Firebrand on the China station, in which he served in the Sino-Japanese War of 1895-96, being present in dry dock at Niuchang, Manchuria, when the Japanese captured that town.

Having been advanced to Lieutenant in the interim, Carey came home to play his part in the Summer Manoeuvres of 1896, but he returned to the China station in the Phoenix in the following year.

Then in March 1901, he joined the cruiser Naiad as her First Lieutenant and quickly witnessed active service in the Boer War, when he and his shipmates were employed guarding prisoners in St. Helena and in reinforcing coastal garrisons in South Africa against Boer raids.

Subsequently, in the Somaliland operations in 1902-04, he was engaged in the transport of troops and supplies at an exposed anchorage at Obbia during the south-west monsoon. Moreover, he was landed as Provost Marshal to the Field Force, in which he had charge of water supplies. Uniquely, too, he was the only naval man present in the action at Jidballi. He was specially advanced to Commander in June 1903 and thrice mentioned in despatches, latterly in the following terms:

‘Commander E. S. Carey, R.N., Provost Marshal, has rendered very valuable service in the sanitation of standing camps and the maintenance of discipline on the line of march. But in addition to this he has done exceptional service on the line of march in superintending and regulating the issue of water, a most onerous duty in a country like this. Both General Manning and General Fasken report most highly of him.' (London Gazette 2 September 1904, refers).

Further advanced to Captain in December 1909, Carey gained permission to study in Germany and, on his return to the UK in January 1912, qualified as an interpreter in German. Those studies may well have led to employment in Naval Intelligence in the Great War, but he started to suffer from ill-health. Medically examined in August 1914, he was found unfit for further duty and placed on the Retired List.

He settled in Goring, Oxfordshire and died there in September 1927, aged 55.