A Victorian R.V.M. group of four awarded to Able Seaman P. Bundey, Royal Navy, who served in the Royal Yacht Osborne from 1892 to 1906; recalled for Great War service, he died in service on 4 September 1914

India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Burma 1885-7 (P. Bundey, Ord. H.M.S. Ranger.); Royal Victorian Medal, V.R., bronze (Percy Bundey. Royal Yacht. Osborne) contemporarily engraved naming; Coronation 1902, bronze, the reverse contemporarily engraved in the usual style for Osborne ‘Percy Bundey H.M.Y. Osborne’; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., V.R., narrow suspension, impressed naming )Percy Bunday, A.B. Rigger. H.M.Y. Osborne.) light contact marks, generally good very fine (4) £400-£500

Percy Bundey was born in Fareham, Hampshire on 14 June 1868 and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Second Class on 28 August 1883. Posted to H.M.S. Ranger on 19 November 1884, he served in her during the Third Burmese War, and was promoted Able Seaman on 1 July 1887. After further service in H.M. Ships Duke of Wellington, Excellent, and Severn, he joined the Royal Yacht Osborne as an Able Seaman Rigger on 12 June 1892, and served in her until he was discharged on 15 June 1906. He was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 4 September 1901.

Bundey joined the Royal Fleet Reserve on 14 August 1906, and was recalled for War service on 2 August 1914. Posted to H.M.S. Fisgard, he died at home of septicaemia on 4 September 1914, and is buried under a C.W.G.C. headstone in Gosport Cemetery, Hampshire.

Note: No trace has been found of a Royal Victorian Medal being awarded to Bundey, although as the medal is named in a style seen to the Osborne it seems likely that this medal was awarded to him for service at Queen Victoria’s Funeral, and that for some reason was omitted from the roll.