Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Gunner H. Ley, Royal Navy

Baltic 1854-55, unnamed; Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Sebastopol (H. Ley, H.M.S. Princess Royal, Sept. 8 1855), contemporary naming; India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Perak (H. Ley, Gunr. 2nd Cl., H.M.S. Thistle); Turkish Crimea 1855, Sardinian issue, unnamed, with swivel-bar suspension, clasp loose on riband of second, contact marks and occasional edge bruising, generally very fine or better (4) £600-700

Henry Ley was born in Devon in December 1835 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 1st Class in November 1853. He subsequently witnessed active service in the Baltic and Crimea operations in H.M.S. Princess Royal, gaining advancement to Able Seaman in 1857 and to Leading Seaman in June 1860. Thereafter specialising in gunnery, Ley was awarded a First Class Certificate in Armstrong Gun Drill and was appointed Mate and, in March 1864, Acting Gunner. Having then attracted Their Lordships displeasure, and been placed bottom of the list of Gunners 3rd Class for a year, he regained his laurels in the Thistle in the Perak operations of 1875-76, and was finally pensioned ashore as a Gunner in early 1880; sold with copied service record.