Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Chief Petty Officer Wallace Hart, Royal Navy, who was killed when H.M. Trawler Tervani was mined on 5 December 1916

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith (162841 A-B: W. Hart, H:M:S: Tartar) large impressed naming; 1914-15 Star (162841, W. Hart, P.O. I. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (162841 W. Hart. Act. C.P.O. R.N.) naming officially re-impressed on BWM; Italy, Kingdom, Messina Earthquake Medal 1908, silver, very fine, the first scarce (5) £600-£800

M.I.D. London Gazette 1 January 1916: For services in minesweeping or mine laying operations.

Only nine medals with 2 clasps to H.M.S. Tartar, seven with this combination

Sold with C.P.O’s. bullion cap badge and a contemporary (undated) news cutting:

‘Rewarded. A Reminiscence of the Earthquake at Messina. Am interesting ceremony took place at the Margate Borough Petty Sessions on Wednesday, when the Mayor of Margate (Alderman E. Coleman) presented Mr Wallace Hart with a silver medal on behalf of the King of Italy, for services rendered during the Messina earthquake in 1909. Mr Hart, who was an Able Seaman, was in charge of a lifeboat, and in January of the year mentioned he was instrumental in saving something like 800 persons from the steamship “Orphia” (sic).’

Wallace Hart was born in the `parish of St James, Westminster, London, on 17 March 1876, and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class on 17 March 1876. He served aboard H.M.S. Tartar from May 1898 to July 1900, including service ashore during the war in South Africa (Medal with 2 clasps). He was discharged to shore C.S. expired on 16 March 1906, and joined the Royal Fleet Reserve at the end of the following year to serve in the Mercantile Marine. He is confirmed as serving as an Able Seaman on board the S.S. Ophir during the operations at Messina in 1908-09. He re-enrolled into the Royal Navy in December 1911 and was killed when H.M. Trawler Tervani was mined on 5 December 1916. He is commemorated by name on the Chatham Naval Memorial.