Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Engineman J. Marr, Royal Naval Reserve
1914-15 Star (ES. 1591, J. Marr, Engn., R.N.R.); British War and Victory Medals (1591 E.S. J. Marr. Engn. R.N.R.) good very fine

Pair: D. T. Farquhar, Mercantile Marine
British War and Mercantile Marine War Medals (Daniel T. Farquhar) nearly extremely fine

Pair: J. Marr, Mercantile Marine
British War and Mercantile Marine War Medals (John Marr) nearly extremely fine

Pair: C. I. Snailham, Mercantile Marine
British War and Mercantile Marine War Medals (Charles I. Snailham) good very fine (9) £120-£160

John Marr was born in Aberdeen on 5 July 1875. A resident of Leith, he served with Royal Naval Reserve from 26 December 1914 and was stationed at the Granton naval base from 4 January 1915 until demobilisation on 3 February 1919. The base initially held 29 trawlers and 3 yachts, employed on patrol work and minesweeping in the Firth of Forth and North Sea, but from 1915, Granton was engaged in the fitting out and operation of “Q” Ships, merchantmen and trawlers fitted with hidden weapons, designed to lure in and destroy enemy submarines at close range. According to the recipient's Service Record, Marr received payment for the salvage of the Norwegian barque Henrik Ibsen from 21-23 November 1916. He was later fortunate to escape with his life when the trawler Ethel Nutten foundered near the Isle of May during a severe north-westerly force 12 storm, whilst under tow of the F.V. Sargon. All crew were saved.

Daniel Taylor Farquhar was born at Leith, Midlothian, in 1860. An experienced Ship's Master, his career spanned over 40 years, including a 'close call' reported in The New York Times on 23 November 1901:
'Steamship Dunblane's Cargo Ablaze.
St. John's, N. F., Nov. 22 - The fire on board the British steamship Dunblane, Capt. Farquhar, which put in here yesterday on her way from Savannah for Bremen, with part of her cotton cargo aflame, was found to be more serious than at first reported. A large volume of flame is breaking from her No. 3 hold, and the city Fire Department has been working on her all day. It is expected that most of the cargo will have to be discharged, and the crew is now busy throwing bales of charred cotton into the harbor. The vessel will probably be delayed here a long time.’

Charles Ivor Snailham was born in Cardiff in 1893. He served with the Merchant Navy during the Great War and is recorded as a Marine Engineer resident aboard a vessel located at Blackwater Point Dry Dock, Greenwich, at the time of his marriage to Ethel Lewis Howard in 1922. Later noted as a Depot Operator in the 1939 Register, Snailham died on 11 August 1954 at The Royal Masonic Hospital, Hammersmith.

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