Three: Leading Stoker G. W. H. A. Smith, Royal Navy, killed in action at Jutland aboard H.M.S. Black Prince

1914-15 Star (K.30288 G. W. H. A. Smith. Act. L. Sto., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (K.30288 G. W. H. A. Smith. Act. L. Sto., R.N.) together with Memorial Plaque (George William Harcourt Avondale Smith) plaque holed at 3 and 9 o’clock, otherwise good very fine (4) £260-£300

George William Harcourt Avondale Smith was killed in action whilst serving aboard H.M.S. Black Prince at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916.

H.M.S. Black Prince met her fate when she lost touch with the British fleet and turned south in an attempt to rejoin. At about 12:15 a.m. she was still on the same course when she encountered the German High Seas Fleet steaming toward the Horn Reefs. The position of the Black Prince was hopeless from the start, for she was at once the centre of the German searchlights. She was swept from end to end for two or three minutes by salvos from heavy guns. She then caught fire and blew up with the whole of her ship’s company; out of a total of 37 officers, 815 men and 5 civilians, there was not one survivor.