A Great War D.S.M. group of seven awarded to Chief Petty Officer H. W. Brady, Royal Navy, who served for nineteen years as Admiral Sir Roger Keyes’s coxswain, including the actions of Dogger Bank, Gallipoli, and the raids on Zeebrugge and Ostend

Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (188620 H. W. Brady, C.P.O., Services During War); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 1 clasp, Natal (188620 A.B: H. W. Brady, H.M.S. Terrible) impressed naming; China 1900, 2 clasps, Taku Forts, Relief of Pekin (H. W. Brady, A.B., H.M.S. Fame) second clasp loose on ribbon as issued; 1914-15 Star (188620 H. W. Brady, P.O. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (188620 H. W. Brady, Act. C.P.O. R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (188620 H. W. Brady, P.O. H.M.S. Arrogant) contact marks, otherwise generally very fine (7) £2000-2500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A fine collection of awards for the Boxer Rebellion 1900.

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Only 3 China medals with two clasps issued to this ship.

D.S.M. London Gazette 27 May 1919.

Henry William Brady was born at Kincardine, Scotland, on 3 July 1878, and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class aboard H.M.S. Northampton on 29 May 1896. Brady served ashore from the Terrible in Natal during the Boer War before moving to the China Station where he transferred to the Fame (borne on the books of Barfleur), the first command of a young Lieutenant named Roger Keyes. Brady played a prominent part in the capture of the four modern Chinese destroyers that were found at berth in the dockyard at the Taku Forts, a part described by Keyes in his autobiography Adventures Ashore and Afloat:

‘Before dismissing the men to their stations, where they were to lie down and rest until 1.20 a.m., I called for a volunteer to jump aboard the Chinese destroyer with a hawser and boat’s anchor, to hook round the mast directly the vessels touched. I selected Henry Brady, a young able seaman, who was the first to come forward, for this service. He was my coxswain whenever I was at sea for the next nineteen years.’

‘Brady and my Chinese boy joined the junk carrying the Headquarters stores and office and although there were some N.C.O.s aboard, Brady A.B. soon became Captain of the Junk.’

When Keyes later caught diptheria he was nursed by Brady and his Chinese servant, attended to by Doctor Pell: ‘When I was at my worst, Pell was allowed to come up and see me to take down my last wishes. He told me later that although I could hardly speak, I conveyed to him that I had no intention of dying. His kindness, and the devotion of Brady and my Chinese servant, who nursed me, I shall never forget.’

Brady was one of only three recipients of the two-clasp China medal on the Fame, the others being Keyes and the First Lieutenant, Tompkinson. The latter eventually became an Admiral and was one of the central figures in the Invergordon Mutiny which ruined his career some thirty years later. All three men are to be found still serving together on the Zeebrugge Raid in 1918. Meantime Brady went with Keyes on his subsequent seagoing appointments. In 1908, seemingly having been overlooked for the second clasp to his China medal, this was sent to him in November of that year whilst serving aboard aboard Venus, Keyes’ new command, having been Naval Attache at Rome for the previous three years.

Brady then served in H.M.S. Arrogant and Dolphin, when Keyes was Inspecting Captain of Submarines from 1910 to 1915. He was present on the Lurcher at the battle of the Dogger Bank. He went with Keyes when he was Chief of Staff to Admiral de Robeck at Gallipoli aboard Queen Elizabeth and Inflexible. Keyes landed with General Birdwood at Anzac Cove and went up to inspect the front line trenches accompanied, as always, by the faithful Brady:

‘The Anzacs were full of appreciation for the fleet’s gunnery practise, the Queen Elizabeth’s shrapnel taking the palm with the result that Brady, who wore a Queen Elizabeth cap ribbon, was an object of particularly friendly interest. An Australian Colonel declared that one of our 15-inch shrapnel had wiped out a whole Turkish regiment.’

Embarking for the second Ostend Raid, Keyes recalled: ‘My wife walked down to the pier to see me off. After I had left she found my coxswain in great distress having been left behind. So she hastily motored him down to the C.M.B. base, just in time to catch one of the last boats to leave. Much to my amusement and that of the staff, half an hour or so later, the C.M.B. came roaring up alongside the Warwick and my faithful Brady came on board.’

‘At four a.m. the Warwick struck a mine aft and heeled over about 30 degrees to port, and from the bridge it looked as though she was going stern first with a heavy list... I was then amused to see the faithful Woolley and Brady appear - evidently determined to see that I did not drown.’

Demobbed on 1 December 1919, it is believed that Brady stayed working for Keyes in civilian life. Sold with full research including record of service and numerous copied extracts from various biographies which mention Brady.