Five: Chief Petty Officer Cook J. Greer, Royal Navy

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, no clasp (Cook’s Mte., H.M.S. Sappho); 1914-15 Star (354471 Ch. Sh. Ck., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (354471 Ch. Sh. Ck., R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (354471 Ch. Sh. Ck., H.M.S. Glory), the first with officially corrected surname, nearly very fine, the remainder very fine and better (5) £180-220

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Barrett J. Carr Collection of Boer War Medals.

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255 Queen’s South Africa Medals were awarded to the ship’s company of H.M.S. Sappho, all but one of them without clasp.

John Greer was born at Herne Bay, Kent in October 1876 and entered the Royal Navy as a Domestic 3rd Class in January 1896. Advanced to Cook’s Mate in April 1898, he served in H.M.S. Sappho from August 1900 to September 1901, which period included her commission off South Africa.

By the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he had been advanced to Chief Ship’s Cook, and was serving in the Sutlej, aboard which cruiser he remained employed until July 1915, thereby witnessing her commission with the 11th Cruiser Squadron off the West Coast of Ireland. Next given an appointment in Pembroke, he returned to sea in the cruiser Sentinel in May 1918, aboard which ship he served in the Aegean and the Black Sea, finally returning home in April 1919. Greer was demobilised as a Chief Petty Officer Cook in August 1919.