Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An unusual post-war M.B.E., royal tour R.V.M. group of ten awarded to Senior Commissioned Catering Officer W. S. G. Tanner, Royal Navy

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 2nd type breast badge; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Burma Star, clasp, Pacific; Defence and War Medals; Royal Victorian Medal, G.VI.R., 1st issue, silver, these unnamed; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (LX. 21098 O.C. 1, H.M.S. Victory); Denmark, Medal of Recompense, Frederick IX, silver, unnamed, mounted court-style as worn, generally good very fine (10) £650-750

Ex D.N.W. 1 December 2004.

M.B.E. London Gazette 31 May 1956.

William Sydney Gaius Tanner was born in Laverstock, Hampshire on 29 July 1906. He entered the Royal Navy in 1921 as a Boy Cook. During the Second World War he was serving on the cruiser H.M.S. Fiji when she was attacked and sunk off Crete in May 1941. His obituary reports that he was the personal chef to King George VI at Buckingham Palace, Sandringham and Balmoral. He was awarded the R.V.M. for his services as Chief Petty Officer Cook aboard the battleship H.M.S. Vanguard during the King’s tour of South Africa during 1947. He was awarded the M.B.E. in 1956 while stationed at the Londonderry shore establishment Sea Eagle. Circa 1958 he was seconded to the Royal New Zealand Navy as Catering Advisor and was finally placed on the Retired List in the rank of Senior Commissioned Catering Officer in 1961. Tanner was a Fellow of the Hotel and Catering Institute and was an international judge in cooking competitions. Latterly living at Downhams Farm Cottages, Egbury, St. Mary Bourne, Hampshire, he died in Southampton Royal Hants Hospital in 1975. With copied research.