Orders, Decorations and Medals Including five Special Collections

A fascinating group of eight awarded to Captain G. L. Parnell, D.S.O., O.B.E., Royal Navy, Resident Naval Officer at Baku during the Bolshevik Rebellion

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R.; The Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) 1st type; 1914-15 Star Trio, with M.I.D. oak leaf (Commr. G. L. Parnell, R.N.); Defence Medal; Legion of Honour, 5th class breast badge, silver, gilt and enamels; French Croix de Guerre 1914-17, with bronze palm, mounted court style as worn, nearly extremely fine (8) £1200-1400

D.S.O. London Gazette 8 March 1918: ‘The King has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the Distinguished Service Order for services in the Destroyer and Torpedo Boat Flotillas during the period ending 31 December 1917.’

O.B.E. (Military) London Gazette 11 November 1919: ‘For valuable services in connection with operations in the Caspian Sea.’

M.I.D. London Gazette 17 January 1917, for the surface action against the U-139, Captained by Armand de la Perriere, whilst commanding H.M.S. Perth, Convoy HG 109, 1 October 1918.

Legion of Honour, 4 December 1917; Croix de Guerre, 20 December 1917.

Gerald Langdon Parnell entered the Royal Navy as a Naval Cadet on 15 January 1894, was advanced to Midshipman on 15 January 1896, and to Sub Lieutenant on 15 July 1889. He recieved five first-class certificates in Seamanship, Navigation, Pilotage, Gunnery and Torpedo. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 15 July 1900, to Commander on 31 December 1912, and to Captain on 31 December 1919. He served throughout the Great War in Destroyers, often employed on Convoy duties, including Swale1914), Nith1916), and Perth1918). In December 1918 he was appointed to the cruiser H.M.S. Theseus for duties in the Caspian Sea as Resident Naval Officer, Baku (awarded the O.B.E. for these services). He retired in 1923 and devoted his life to The Missions to Seamen, visiting the incumbents of lighthouses and lightships around the coast of Britain.