Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Lieutenant G. N. A. Pollard, Royal Navy

Canada General Service 1866-70, 1 clasp, Fenian Raid 1866 (Midshipman G. N. A. Pollard, Royal Navy) Canadian-style officially impressed naming; Ashantee 1873-74, no clasp (Lt. G. N. A. Pollard, R.N. H.M.S. Simoom. 73-74) small test cut to rim of each medal, otherwise good very fine or better (2) £1,600-£2,000

Captain W. A. Tinlin Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, March 2007.

George Northmore Arthur Pollard was born on 17 March 1847, at St Mary’s, Leicestershire. He joined H.M.S. Britannia as a Naval Cadet in 1861, and was appointed Midshipman in H.M.S. Wolverine in 1866. He saw considerable active service early in his career and was still only a midshipman when he participated in suppressing the Morant Bay rebellion in Jamaica in 1865, and in operations against war parties of the Fenian Brotherhood in Canada 1866 (Medal with clasp). On 17 November 1865 the Board of the Admiralty signified its highest approval of his conduct in Jamaica. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 29 December 1871, and as Lieutenant of Simoom he served ashore during the Ashantee War of 1873-74, being Mentioned in Despatches (Medal).

In 1875, now Senior Lieutenant in H.M.S. Nassau, he was present at the bombardment of Mombasa on the East African coast. He was promoted to the rank of Commander on 31 December 1885, and to the rank of Captain on 1 January 1894. In 1897 he was appointed to third-class protected cruiser Wallaroo, additional, to date February 11, for re-commission for service on the Australian station, and commissioned the ship in Sydney on 21 April 1897. In June 1897 he annexed Bellona Island and the Stewart Islands to the British Crown. He retired due to age on 17 March 1901, and was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral (retired) on 26 June 1905. He died on 8 December 1920, The Times obituary noting: “Too old to return to the Navy for the late war, served as a special constable, and walked 3,000 miles on that duty.”