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HMS Thetis was a 2nd Class Cruiser which served between November 1899 and April 1901. Commanded by Captain W Stokes Rees CB.


Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (0) (W. H. Palmer, A.B. HMSThetis);
1914-15 Star (142386, W. H. Palmer, P.O.1., R.N.);
BWM and VM (142386 W. H. Palmer. P.O.1 R.N.)

William Henry Palmer was born in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire in October 1871. He enlisted into the Royal Navy in August 1887 and was first assigned to the school ship HMS Impregnable as a Boy Second Class. By 1894 he had also served aboard the ironclad battleship HMS Bellerophon and the troopship Euphrates. In February 1898, he was posted to the cruiser, HMS Thetis and was aboard during her involvement in the Boer War.

He transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve in October 1912 and was recalled at the beginning of the Great War, during which he served in HMS Peshawar and aboard the cruiser HMS Theseus, the latter being involved in the Dardanelles Campaign. He was discharged to pension in March 1919.

Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (0) (A. Patmore, Sto: H.M.S. Thetis)
[ 14-15 Trio ]
[ LS&GC ]

Alfred Patmore was born in Stanstead, Essex, on 20 May 1877 and entered naval service on 13 January 1897 as a Stoker 2nd Class; promoted Stoker, he served as such in HMS Thetis from 1 July 1899 to 8 June 1901.

He was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 20 January 1902, while serving in HMY Victoria and Albert. Recalled to service during the Great War, he spent it in HMS Agincourt.

HMS Agincourt had an interesting start to her Royal Naval career as recounted in Wikipedia:

Brazil ordered the ship in 1911 as Rio de Janeiro from the British company Armstrong Whitworth. However, the collapse of Brazil's rubber boom and a warming in relations with Argentina, the country's chief rival, led to the ship's sale while under construction to the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans renamed her Sultan Osman I, after the empire's founder, and the ship was nearly complete when the First World War broke out. The British government seized her for use by the Royal Navy, together with another Ottoman dreadnought being constructed in Britain. This act caused resentment in the Ottoman Empire, as the payments for both ships were complete, and contributed to the decision of the Ottoman government to join the Central Powers.

Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (1) Natal (C. Webb. Sto:HMS Thetis.) small impressed naming;
1914-15 Star (279517, C. Webb, Ch. Sto., R.N.);
BWM and VM with MID oak leaves (279517 C. Webb. Ch. Sto. R.N.);
Royal Navy LS&GC GV, 1st issue (279517. Charles Webb. Ch. Sto. HMS Vivid.)

Approximately 101 Queen’s South Africa Medals with clasp Natal awarded to HMS Thetis.

MID LG 11 December 1918:
‘For services in Destroyers between 1 January and 30 June 1918.’

Charles Webb was born in Burnham, Essex, on 27 March 1876 and joined the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class on 10 April 1895. Advanced Stoker on 16 May 1896, he joined HMS Thetis on 15 February 1898, and served in her during the Boer War. Advanced Acting Chief Stoker on 15 February 1914, Webb served during the Great war initially in HMS Sutlej, and was promoted Chief Stoker on 15 February 1915. He was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal whilst borne on the books of HMS Vivid, and served during the latter part of the War in HMS Apollo, being Mentioned in Despatches. He was shore demobilised on 4 April 1919.

Picture courtesy of Dixons Medals

Royal Humane Society Medal Small bronze, successful rescue, (H.M.S. Thetis April 20. 1900.) with second award bar;
QSA (1) Natal, (P.O. H.M.S. Thetis.);
1914-15 Star, (Gnr. R.N.)
British War Medal, Victory Medal, (Ch. Gnr. R.N.)

Chief Gunner R. W. Martin, Royal Navy.

Robert William Martin was born in Broadstairs, Kent on 28 October 1875. An Errand Boy by occupation, he enlisted into the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class on 14 April 1891, being advanced to Boy 1st Class in November the same year. Serving on H.M.S. Collingwood he was promoted to Ordinary Seaman in October 1893 and to Able Seaman in April 1895. Serving on H.M.S. Thetis, February 1898-June 1901, he was promoted to Leading Seaman in September 1898 and Petty Officer 2nd Class in October 1899.

He was promoted to Petty Officer 1st Class in August 1901. In January 1908 he was appointed Acting Gunner, serving on H.M.S. Shannon and was confirmed in that rank in January 1910. During the Great War he served as such on H.M. Ships Leda and Earl of Peterborough, being advanced to Chief Gunner in September 1918. Martin retired from the Navy with the rank of Lieutenant on 16 July 1925. During his naval career he was the recipient of the R.H.S. Medal in Bronze and Clasp: At 10.30 p.m. on 20th April 1900 in Durban Harbour, T. Conneely (a stoker of H.M.S. Thetis) fell overboard from the ship, 400 yards from the shore, into water 21 feet deep. Sharks infest the harbour. Robert Martin, Petty Officer of H.M.S. Thetis, jumped in and supported Conneely till a rope was thrown and he was taken to the gangway (R.H.S. Case no. 30,839). At 2.10 p.m. on 3rd February 1914 at sea three and a half miles off Clacton, the cutter Snipe, sank while being towed by H.M.S. Leda. Filled and sank in water 40 feet deep. Seeing that Abbott (A.B.) was in difficulty. Robert Martin (Gunner, R.N.) swam to him with a biscuit tin and kept him afloat till they were picked up.(R.H.S. Case no. 40,632).

Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (0) (F. D. Phillips, A.B. HMS Thetis);
1914-15 Star (191582, F. D. Phillips, P.O., R.N.);
BWM and VM (191582 F. D. Phillips. P.O. R.N.);
Royal Navy LS&GC GV, 1st issue (191582 F. D. Phillips, P.O. HMS Shannon.)

Frank Dunderidge Phillips was born in Plymstock, Devon in September 1881. He joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in January 1897, and advanced to Chief Petty Officer in April 1919. Phillips served with HMS Thetis, June 1898 - September 1900; HMS Shannon (cruiser), August 1914 - June 1915; and HMS Berwick (cruiser), June 1916 - August 1918 (awarded LS&GC in January 1915).

Picture courtesy of Spink

QSA (0) (C. G. Strong, A.B. H.M.S. Thetis)
[ NGS (1) Persian Gulf 1909-14 ]
[ 1914-15 Star Trio ]

Clarence George Strong was born on 17 January 1882 at New Brompton, Kent and joined the Royal Navy on 17 January 1900. Having served off South Africa (Medal without clasp), Strong was commissioned as a Gunner in November 1910. He served in that rank in Alert in the Persian Gulf and during the Great War.

Made Chief Commissioned Gunner in November 1920, he was retired in January 1922.