British War Medal 1914-18

Awarded to Lieutenant Engineer Harold Hazelgrove Swayne RN (1896-1982). Obverse: Head of King George V (left). Legend: 'GEORGIVS V BRITT : OMN : REX ET IND : IMP:' Reverse: A Knight on horseback (right) a short sword in his right hand, trampling on the German shield, skull and cross-bones. Legend: '1914-18': Engraved on the edge: 'M.4766 H.H.SWAYNE, ACT.E.R.A. 4.R.' Fitted with a bar and orange watered silk ribbon edged with blue, black and white stripes. Mounted on a bar with three others.

Harold Hazelgrove Swayne was born in Portsmouth, the son of Chief Boatswain John Crabb Swaine. Harold signed up for twelve years naval service on 4 May 1914. He was initially attached to HMS 'Fisgard' - a Portsmouth base for training engineers and artificers. Swayne served as an Engine Room Artificer during most of the war in pre-dreadnought battleship HMS 'Hindustan', leaving her in February 1918. He then served in destroyer HMS 'Vampire' for the last months of the conflict. In 1928 he was promoted Acting Warrant Engineer and was commissioned on 1 October 1938. His medal group indicates that he continued his naval service during the Second World War but probably in a non-combatant role. He married Gladys May Semmens at Portsmouth in 1919.

Object Details

ID: MED1779
Collection: Coins and medals
Type: War medal
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Mackennal, Edgar Bertram; McMillan, William
Events: World War I, 1914-1918
Date made: 1919
People: Swayne, Harold Hazelgrove
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Overall: 36 mm
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