Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Royal Humane Society group of five awarded to Major C. A. Power, Royal Marine Light Infantry, who endured a long spell in the icy waters of the Firth of Forth following an unsuccessful rescue attempt

British War Medal 1914-20 (2. Lt. C. A. Power. R.M.); Victory Medal 1914-19 (Lieut. C. A. Power. R.M.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Royal Humane Society, small bronze medal (unsuccessful) (Lieut. Charles A. Power R.M.L.I. 25. Nov 1919) with integral bronze riband buckle, the Great War pair polished, therefore fine, the remainder nearly very fine and better (5) £240-£280

Charles Alfred Power was born in the parish of Queensbury, Yorkshire, on 12 April 1900. He won an academic scholarship to Oakham School in 1914 and gained his colours for cricket in the sixth form. Rather than follow in the medical footsteps of his Irish father, he attested for the Royal Marine Light Infantry at Plymouth as Probationary Second Lieutenant on 1 September 1917. Advanced Lieutenant on 20 December 1918, he was awarded the Royal Humane Society Medal in bronze for the attempted rescue of a naval rating in the Firth of Forth, off Rosyth. The official recommendation states:
R.H.S. Case No. 45265: '7 p.m., 25 Nov. 1919. The man had fallen overboard from H.M.S. "Royal Oak". Strong tide, dark night. Lt. Power jumped in but failed to find him and was picked up 600 yards astern.'

The events of that evening are further detailed in a hand-written account by the recipient's son, Michael Charles Power:
'My father was a junior R.M. officer on H.M.S. Royal Oak, and in November 1919 the ship was storming in the North Sea [sic] at night when an Able Seaman Flatman was swept overboard. My father saw him go, and jumped after him without anyone else seeing the incident. As a result he was in icy water for 4 hours, in the dark, in the course of which sufficient time had to elapse for the ship's company to notice his absence, the ship itself to turn round and come back, and finally for the search party to find him.'

Safely brought aboard, Power went on to enjoy a long and successful career with the Royal Marines, including postings to Malta as Assistant to the Naval Provost Marshal in 1928, and a spell as Captain, later Major, on the China Station in the late 1930s. Returned home to the Admiralty Naval Intelligence Division in 1939, he later served as Second in Command, 19th Royal Marine Battalion, H.M.S. Proserpine, from 6 June 1942 to 4 February 1943, and Officer in Charge of H.M.S. Ferret until the end of the war. Power retired on 2 March 1946 in consequence of being medically unfit, and died at Wadhurst on 12 April 1974.

Sold with the original hand-written account detailed above; and copied research.