Pair: Shipwright Lieutenant W. J. Leverett, Royal Navy, M.I.D. for operations against S.M.S. Königsberg

British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oakleaf (Shpt. Lt., R.N.) nearly extremely fine (2) £80-100

M.I.D. London Gazette 8 December 1915. ‘Chief Carpenter William J. Leverett, H.M.S. “Hyacinth.” This Officer was in charge of fitting out of the two Monitors’.

William James Leverett was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire on 25 January 1862. A Shipwright by trade, he entered the Royal Navy as a Shipwright in April 1885. Promoted to Chief Carpenter’s Mate on the Lily in July 1889, Carpenter on the Vindictive in July 1900 and Chief Carpenter at Osbourne College (H.M.S. Racer) in April 1912. Consistently recommended for advancement, he was later commissioned as a Shipwright Lieutenant. Early in the war, he was charged with the fitting out of monitors Severn and Mersey in the operations which resulted in the destruction of the German light cruiser Königsberg on the Rufiji River, German East Africa, 6-11 July 1915. His service in this regard was brought to notice in Vice-Admiral King Hall’s despatch of 15 July 1915. Shipwright Lieutenant Leverett died on 19 May 1922. Sold with copied service details.