Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A fine Great War 'Second Battle of the Dover Straits' M.I.D. group of three awarded to Sick Berth Attendant J. Gradwell, Royal Navy, one of just two medics aboard H.M.S. Broke, who provided essential care when his ship rammed the Imperial German Navy Torpedo Boat SMS G42 at 27 knots, almost turning her adversary right over.

With both vessels locked together, the scene descended into desperate hand-to-hand fighting on the top deck of Broke, the sailors attacking each other with cutlasses, bayonets and anything else at hand. Remarkably, the recipient later gave a firsthand account of this to a Bolton newspaper, adding that he suffered from the effects of an exploded gas shell

British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (M.16759 J. Gradwell. S.B.A. R.N.); Romania, Kingdom, Medal for Bravery and Loyalty, 2nd Class, with crossed swords, silvered bronze, mounted as worn, good very fine and better (3) £300-£400

M.I.D. London Gazette 10 May 1917:
'Honours for Service in the Action between H.M. Ships "Swift" and "Broke" and German Destroyers, on the night of the 20th to 21st April, 1917.' 

Romania, Medal for Bravery and Loyalty, 2nd Class London Gazette 17 March 1919:
'For distinguished services rendered during the war.' 

James Gradwell was born in Bolton on 26 December 1891 and joined the Royal Navy at Portsmouth on 22 October 1915. Posted to Haslar Naval Hospital for a year, Gradwell transferred to the destroyer H.M.S. Broke on 29 December 1916 as Acting Auxiliary Sick Berth Attendant.

The scenes aboard Broke in the night action of 20-21 April 1917 rank amongst some of the most vivid of the entire Great War. Thwarting a significant attack on the Dover Barrage by six Zeebrugge-based enemy torpedo boats, the Swift and Broke succeeded in sinking two vessels, the second by ramming, and at enormous cost, in a manner reminiscent of Napoleonic engagements rather than modern warfare. An eye-witness account of the action states:
‘Many casualties had occurred among the guns' crews of the forecastle through two enemy shells, one of which had detonated projectiles in a ready rack. All the electric cables and voice-pipes from the bridge had been shot away, while the after compass, after wireless-room, and searchlight were demolished. The foremost funnel was pierced through and through by splinters until it resembled a huge nutmeg-grater. A shell passing in through the side above the waterline had penetrated a coal-bunker, to explode in the boiler-room beyond, killing or wounding every man in the compartment and severing the main steam-pipe, from which the steam escaped with a deafening roar. And, besides the damage from enemy shell, the British flotilla-leader had a badly bent and crumpled bow, and two huge gashes forward above the waterline. Dead and wounded lay everywhere … In the space of a few moments the Broke was converted into a smoking-shambles. In places, her decks were literally running in blood. She sustained 57 casualties, of whom 21 were killed outright, and no part of the ship was immune.’ (Taffrail's Endless Story, refers).

Towed back to port, the survivors of Broke were placed on 'survivor's furlough' and sent home. It was here that Gradwell's story caught the attention of The Farnworth Chronicle on 4 May 1917: ‘They call our ship the chattiest and happiest ship in the Navy,’ he remarked, in paying a very high tribute to the officers and crew, to all of whose bravery in the action he testified. ‘A probationary surgeon and our towns-man comprised the [only] medical staff of the vessel.’

For his bravery and devotion to duty that night, Gradwell was Mentioned in Despatches. The Bolton Journal and Guardian of 18 May 1917 corroborates the details above, adding: ‘For devoted services in attending the injured during the whole of the engagement, he being the only sick-berth attendant on board’.

Remaining in service, Gradwell survived the War and was further recognised by the King of Romania with the rare 2nd Class decoration. He returned home to Bolton and later worked as an agent and superintendent for the Royal London Insurance Company. Elected Alderman in 1949 and Chairman of the Bolton and District Sewerage and Water Board, Gradwell served from 1960 to 1961 as Mayor of Bolton. A 'Bolton man' from top to toe, he died at Bolton General Hospital on 14 April 1972.