Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Commander W. F. Caborne, C.B., Royal Naval Reserve

British War Medal 1914-20 (Commr. W. F. Caborne. R.N.R.); Royal Naval Reserve Decoration, G.V.R., silver and silver-gilt hallmarks for London 1920, mounted court style, edge bruise to BWM, nearly extremely fine (2) £200-£240

Glendining’s, March 1991.

C.B. (Civil) London Gazette 25 June 1897.

Warren Frederick Caborne was born in 1849 and was formerly in the Mercantile Marine before becoming a Commander in the Royal Naval Reserve. He served as Nautical Assessor to H.M.’s Privy Council, Inspector to Board of Trade for Marine Inquiries, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical, Royal Geographical and Royal Meteorological Societies, and was Member of Council of the Royal Service Institution. He was also a Director of Sailors’ Homes, London Docks and Gravesend, Treasurer of St. Andrew’s Waterside Church Mission to Sailors, and an Honorary Commandant of the British Red Cross. He Commanded a transport during the Burma Expedition 1885-6; was subsequently in Egyptian Coast Guard Service; and was Assessor for Inquiries into Shipping Casualties, 1898-1914. He was Nautical Assessor to the Court of Appeal, and was British Nautical Assessor to the Canadian Royal Commission to enquire into loss of Empress of Ireland in 1914. He served during the Great War in the Naval Ordnance Department as Assistant Inspector of Steel, and was awarded the Naval Reserve Officers’ Decoration; he was also the author of numerous articles on naval and other subjects.