Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., V.R., narrow suspension (Wm. Mugford Domestic H.M.S. Vanguard) engraved naming, good very fine £100-£140

William Mugford was born in Topsham, Devon, on 27 April 1844, and joined the Royal Navy as Domestic 1st Class aboard the ironclad battleship Vanguard on 1 February 1873. He was later present on 1 September 1875 when Vanguard collided with H.M.S. Iron Duke in foggy conditions near the modern-day Kish lightship off the coast of eastern Ireland; Iron Duke’s underwater ram tore open Vanguard’s hull near her boilers and she soon foundered once the engine room flooded and all power to the pumps was gone. None of the crew were lost, but Captain Dawkins of the Vanguard never took command of another ship again.

Transferred to Hector and Valiant, Mugford’s service record notes ‘run’ at Tarbert. Captured a month later, he spent 90 days in Limerick gaol and was released from the service on 2 April 1879, his character described as ‘bad’. He later worked as a Hall Keeper at Shaftesbury Hall in Bournemouth, dying of liver failure on 3 September 1897.

Sold with copied service record.