Orders, Decorations and Medals

Handwritten Memoirs of Rear-Admiral Walter Petre, D.S.O., Royal Navy, supplying details on his naval career before and during the Great War, 12 pages, some double-sided, handwritten in ink, pages numbered, some pages missing, some foxing and slight damage, fairly good condition £80-100

Walter Reginald Glynn Petre was born in December 1873. Educated at the Royal Naval Academy, Gosport, he entered the Royal Navy in 1887. As a Lieutenant he served in the Persian Gulf in 1897 and served in a boat expedition to capture pirates. During the Boer War he served on the Leviathan which escorted troops home. Promoted Commander in 1907 and Captain in 1915, he was Senior Commander of Minelayers in the North Sea and then Senior Commander of Minelayers in the Mediterranean after the evacuation of Gallipoli. For his services he was twice mentioned in despatches and awarded the D.S.O. in 1917. Post-war, he was British Captain of the Port at Constantinople, 1921-22. Petre retired with the rank of Rear-Admiral in 1923. Together with a portrait photograph of the recipient in uniform.