Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Family Group:

Pair: Driver F. Speadbury, Royal Artillery
British War and Victory Medals (108038 Dvr. F. Speadbury. R.A.) good very fine

Three: Ordinary Seaman J. F. W. Speadbury, Royal Navy, who was killed in action when H.M.S. Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy, was sunk by the German battleship Bismark and the battle cruiser Prinz Eugen in the Denmark Strait, 24 May 1941; of the Hood’s 1,418 crew, only three men survived
1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45, in named card box of issue, addressed to ‘Mr. F. H. Speadbury, Ivanhoe, 262 Middle Street, Fair Oak, Eastleigh’, extremely fine (5) £180-£220

Jack Fred William Speadbury joined the Royal Navy and served during the Second World War as an Able Seaman in the Battle Cruiser H.M.S. Hood. He was killed in action during the Battle of the Denmark Strait, when the Hood, together with the battleship H.M.S. Prince of Wales, fought the German battleship Bismark and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, both of which were attempting to break out into the North Atlantic to destroy Allied merchant shipping. The Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy, opened fire at 5:52 a.m. on 24 May 1941, and having received a direct hit from the Bismark at 6:00 a.m. sank beneath the waves within three minutes, after a total combat lifespan of less than quarter of an hour. Of the 1,418 Officers and crew on board, only three men, Ordinary Seaman Ted Briggs, Able Seaman Robert Tilburn, and Midshipman William Dundas survived.

Speadbury was amongst those killed, and he is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.