Orders, Decorations and Medals

Baltic 1854-55 (1st Lieut. F. Lean, R.M.L.I., H.M.S. Albion) engraved naming, minor edge bruising and contact marks, very fine £350-400

Francis Lean joined the Royal Marines as 2nd Lieutenant on 30 December 1850, becoming Lieutenant in February 1854. He served with the Baltic expeditions in 1854 and 1855 (Medal). He served with the Royal Marine Battalion, in co-operation with the French Army, at the bombardment and capture of the forts of Bomarsund, Aland Isles, in August, 1854, and was in the Company that took possession of Fort Nottich, and brought away the Russian garrison. He commanded the detachment of Marines in a gun-boat of the flotilla, and was actively engaged with the enemy during the bombardment of Sveaborg in August, 1855. Promoted to Captain in March 1862, he served with the Battalion sent out for service in Japan in 1864-66; and was present at the bombardment of the batteries at the Straits of Simono-seki, the entrance of the inland sea of Japan, the assault, capture and destruction of the five batteries, stockade, magazines, and barracks, and during the shore operations, from the 5th to the 8th September, 1864. Lean was promoted to Major in August 1875 and retired as Lieutenant-Colonel in October 1877.

Francis Lean founded the Royal Navy List which was published quarterly from January 1878 up to the Great War, and of which he was Joint Editor and Proprietor.