Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Canada General Service 1866-70, 1 clasp, Fenian Raid 1866 (A.B. Seaman G. Mudford, Royal Navy) officially impressed naming, edge bruise to reverse, nearly extremely fine £500-600

George Mudford was born in London on 23 October 1841.

He entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 1st Class on H.M.S. Fisgard on 7 February 1860. In 1860 the Fisgard was stationed at Woolwich and was the guardship and administration ship for that area. He then served aboard H.M.S. Aboukir, February 1860-15 October 1862. In 1860 the Aboukir was in the Channel Squadron; by August 1862 she was commissioned as a receiving ship at Port Royal in Kingston, Jamaica. Mudford entered the rolls of H.M.S. Pylades on 16 October 1862. The ship was on service on the North American and West Indies Stations. While on board Pylades, Mudford served in Canada at the time of the Fenian Raids of 1866. Mudford left the Royal Navy in 1870 following his service aboard the Rodney.

The original Fenian Raid medal roll indicates that George Mudford also served aboard the gunboat Royal during the raids. At Montreal the Royal was fitted out and despatched through the St. Lawrence Canals and River. She was armed with an Armstrong 12-pounder and a brass howitzer forward, and an Armstrong 12-pounder aft. Her batteries around the bow and stern were cased with iron for the protection of the men working the guns, and her wheel-house protected with sand-bags, for protection against rifle-fire. The gunboat was crewed by sailors from the Pylades - including Mudford. Thyen’s Roll indicates that only three sailors who served aboard the Royal claimed the Canada General Service Medal. The entry for Mudford also notes, ‘Protection Cornwall Jail 1866’. His medal was sent to ‘68 Stewarts Road, Battersea, London’.

With copied roll extracts.