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Picture courtesy of Spink

Transport (1) S. Africa 1899-1902 (E. F. Gurney, In Command);
British War and Mercantile Marine War medals (Edwin F. Gurney)

Edwin Frederick Gurney was born in London in July 1864 and served as Master aboard the SS Urmston Grange for the transporting of troops and materiel to South Africa during the Second Anglo-Boer War.

Additionally an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve, Gurney regularly attended periods of training at HMS President (where his Character was consistently assessed as 'V.G.') and saw service during the Great War. He is noted as a Lieutenant-Commander (Retired) on the Navy List as late as July 1937 (when he would have been 73 years old) but disappears thereafter.

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

DSO GV;
Transport (1) S. Africa 1899-1902 (C. A. G. Roberts.);
1914-15 Star (Lt. Commr. C. A. G. Roberts, R.N.R.);
British War and Victory Medals (Commr. C. A. G. Roberts. R.N.R.);
RD GV, HM 1911

DSO London Gazette 17 May 1918: ‘For Service on the Mediterranean Station.’ The original Recommendation states: ‘Mediterranean during period ending 31st December 1917 ... Ship Isonzo ... For initiative and resource displayed in the important duties which his ship has been employed’

Cyril Arthur Graeme Roberts was born in Belvedere, Kent on 6 February 1879. His papers show service in the Merchant Navy from 23 April 1895, aboard Zealandia though he may well have joined earlier as he had already joined the Royal Naval Reserve as a Midshipman on 5 April of that year. He joined the White Star Line’s Teutonic on 27 July 1896, being promoted Second Mate on 21 September 1897. On 1 October 1897 he was Fourth Officer aboard Mawana, serving aboard Umata from 4 December 1899, and Sirdhana from 31 May 1900, both of which were employed as transport vessels during the Boar War (Transport Medal).

Roberts was promoted 1st Mate on 17 May 1900, and was promoted Acting Sub Lieutenant, Royal Naval Reserve, on 6 May 1901. He continued in service with the Merchant Navy for the next 14 years, being promoted Officer Commanding on 3 October 1902. During this time, he continued his service with the Royal Naval Reserve, being promoted Lieutenant on 15 January 1904 and Lieutenant-Commander on 23 January 1912.

On the outbreak of the Great War, Roberts was called up for Active Service and appointed to H.M.S. Prince George on 9 August 1914. He served aboard this battleship until 3 April 1916, thereby seeing service during the Dardanelles campaign of 1915, where H.M.S. Prince George provided support for the Gallipoli landings in April 1915. However on 5 May 1915, she was damaged by a shell and had to return to Malta for repairs, though returned in time to provide support during the evacuation of the Peninsula. On 4 April 1916, Roberts was appointed to the Fleet Auxiliary ship H.M.S. Isonzo, a requisitioned Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. passenger and mail ship, originally named Isis. Roberts would see out the rest of the War in Command of H.M.S. Isonzo which served as a despatch ship and fleet messenger, having been promoted Commander on 30 June 1917, and was awarded the D.S.O for his services aboard it.

Following the cessation of hostilities Roberts went back to the Merchant Navy, serving on numerous ships, including the Cutty Sark. He was retired from the Royal Naval Reserve on 6 February 1929, with the rank of Captain, but seems to have continued service at sea, even seeking employment at a lower rank during the Second World War.

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (1) Natal (Mr. C. W. J. Chepmell, B.R.C. Society) officially impressed naming;
Transport 1899-1902, (1) S. Africa 1899-1902 (C. Chepmell.) officially impressed naming;
BWM 1914-20 (Charles W. J. Chepmell);
[ Mercantile Marine War Medal ]

Charles William James Chepmell was born in 1860 and completed his studies in medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 1887. In 1889 he was awarded the degree MD with distinction by the University of Brussels (Belgium) and was also admitted as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in England.

His war service started when he landed at Cape Town on 8 January 1900, in his capacity as Assistant Commissioner for Natal for the Central British Red Cross Society. This body had been officially recognised as being responsible for organising ‘the reception and forwarding of the various gifts and voluntary supplies of clothing, comforts and luxuries to the sick and wounded in all parts of the country.’ Chepmell proceeded to Pietermaritzburg and carried out his duties with great energy and success until being obliged by illness to resign his post in June 1900. For these services he received the QSA Medal.

He subsequently joined the P&O Shipping Line as a Surgeon and was appointed to the SS Manila on 5 March 1901. He was in medical charge of troops and prisoners-of-war in South African waters for a number of months, and subsequently received the Transport Medal.

After service on other P&O liners, he also served in a hospital in Malaya. In 1902 he served on the SS Australia, but resigned, having been reported for insobriety in June 1902. He returned to England and was in private practice in London.

For services during WWI he received the British and Mercantile Marine War Medals.

He died in 1935.

QSA verified on WO100/205p225.

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

Transport (1) S. Africa 1899-1902 (P. Mc.L. Kelt.);
British War and Mercantile Marine War Medals (Peter Mc.L. Kelt.);
Royal Naval Reserve Decoration, GV HM 1911;
Persia, Empire, Order of the Lion and the Sun, Fifth Class breast badge, silver and enamel, unmarked but most likely of French manufacture.

Peter McLaren Kelt was born in Musselburgh on 22 May 1871 and joined the Peninsula and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. He was serving as 4th Engineer in the S.S. Aden when, on the night of 8-9 June, en route from Yokohama to London, she struck a submerged reef off the island of Socotra at the southern entrance to the Red Sea during a heavy gale. Various lifeboats were got away, but these were all smashed and lost, and after the Captain had been washed overboard, Kelt became the senior surviving Officer. The remaining survivors, 36 crew and 9 passengers, then spent 17 days on the stricken wreck, during which time they subsisted partly on Barcelona nuts and suffered great hardships, before they were rescued by the Royal Indian Marine’s S.S. Mayo and conveyed to Aden.

Kelt qualified for his Transport Medal as 3rd Engineer in the Peninsula and Oriental Steam Navigation Company’s Simla, receiving his Medal from H.M. The King at Buckingham Palace on 4 November 1903. He joined the Royal Naval Reserve as an Engineer on 15 January 1903, and was promoted Senior Engineer (subsequently redesignated Engineer Lieutenant-Commander) on 18 July 1914. He was awarded the Royal Naval Reserve Decoration in 1916 (London Gazette 4 January 1916), and transferred to the Retired List with the rank of Engineer Commander in January 1920. He was awarded the Persian Order of the Lion and the Sun in June 1920 (receiving Restricted Permission to wear in on 24 June 1920), and died in Edinburgh on 2 August 1949.

The group of 5 to Peter Kelt sold for a hammer price of GBP 1,600 this afternoon. Totals: GBP 2,061. R 44,990. AUD 3,790. NZD 4,110. CAD 3,360. USD 2,440. EUR 2,280

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

Transport (1) S. Africa 1899-1902 (R. Porteous.);
British War and Victory Medals (Eng. S. Lt. R. L. Porteous. R.N.R.)

R. Porteous served as 3rd Engineer in the Elder Dempster Line’s S.S. Milwaukee.