Egypt War Medal 1882-89

Obverse: Head of Queen Victoria in a diadem and veil (left) Legend: 'VICTORIA REGINA ET IMPERATRIX'. Reverse: the sphinx on an ornamental platform. Legend: 'EGYPT'. Bar: 'ALEXANRIA 11th July'. Exergue: '1882'. Inscription on edge: 'R.DEALLER. E.R.ARTFR. H.M.S. BITTERN'. Suspended from a clasp and blue ribbon with two white stripes.

Richard Dealler (1857-1938) was born in Portsmouth, the son of a boiler maker and one of eight children. He joined the Royal Navy on 31 January 1881 and worked his way up from Acting Engine Room Artificer to Chief ERA over 20 years’ service. He initially served in home waters. On 8 November 1881 he joined the wood-screw gun vessel ‘Bittern’ on her recommissioning in Malta and took part in the bombardment of Alexandria on July 11 1882. Her crew remained engaged in operations in Egypt until September 8. Dealler left ‘Bittern’ on 23 February 1886, prior to her being broken up the following year. After a spell in based in the United Kingdom, he joined ‘Stork’ on 14 February 1888. She was employed as a surveying ship in the Indian Ocean. Dealler returned to the UK in March 1891 just prior to her crew being paid off at Malta. Between 11 May 1893 and 20 May 1894, he served in ‘Immortalité’, part of the Channel Squadron, during which time, she suffered a engine room explosion due to a blocked pipe. During the remainder of his career he served in ‘Rodney’ and ‘Galatea’, the latter a coast guard ship based at Hull. Dealler left the Navy when his twenty years’ service expired in 1901.

He married Alice Mabel Hewett at Portsmouth in 1881 and the couple had four children. In 1901, the family were living in Gillingham and by 1921 Richard was widowed and had moved to Swanage where he remained for the remainder of his life.