Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Ten: Petty Officer J. Leahy, Royal Navy, who was Mentioned in Despatches for service aboard H.M.S. Cockchafer during the Wanhsien Incident of 1926

1914-15 Star (J.24514, L. Leahy, Boy.1., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (J.24514 L. Leahy. A.B. R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, 1 copy clasp, France and Germany; Africa Star, 1 clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 3rd issue, coinage head (J.24514 L. Leahy. A.B. H.M.S. Beagle.) the Great War awards heavily polished, fair to fine, the remainder nearly very fine and better (10) £300-£400

M.I.D. London Gazette 6 May 1927:
‘In recognition of services at Wanhsien, Yangtse River, China, on the 5th September, 1926, and connected events.’

Leslie Leahy was born in Marylebone, London, on 28 February 1898, and joined the Royal Navy as Boy 2nd Class on 28 April 1913. Posted to the pre-dreadnought battleship Exmouth 25 April 1914, his Service Record states: ‘punishment of 90 days impt. with H.L. being awarded this boy for striking a superior officer’. Sent to Chatham to serve his sentence, he was released on 25 May 1915 and posted to the General Crawford from 9 August 1915 to 20 May 1916; stationed in the Thames Estuary, the ship largely served as a propaganda tool detailed to defend London using her main armament and shrapnel shells against Zeppelin airships.

Advanced Able Seaman 11 October 1916, Leahy saw out the war aboard the monitor H.M.S. Roberts. Transferred to the sloop Snapdragon 15 December 1920 and insect-class gunboat Cockchafer 12 February 1925, he was present aboard the latter on 27 August 1926 when General Yang Sen, Governor of Sichuan, attempted to board large numbers of his men onto the China Navigation Company steamer Wanxian (Romanised as ‘Wanhsien’) in the midst of the civil war against local militants. Amidst heightened tensions and fears for British interests, the captain of Cockchafer went aboard and persuaded the Chinese officers to disembark with their soldiers, but two days later a similar incident involving the steamer Wanliu at Yungyang resulted in the spark which culminated in the Royal Navy gunboats engaging Chinese troops on both the Yangtze River and along its banks.

Taking forceful action to regain the Wanliu and other vessels from Chinese control, the gunboats Cockchafer and Widgeon, supported by the armed steamer Kiawo, fought a series of sharp engagements which resulted in the deaths of 8 British seamen, with numerous wounded. The Chinese Government later lodged a formal protest at the bombardment of a civil port and the matter was discussed in the Houses of Parliament, the Foreign Secretary Sir Austen Chamberlain declaring that the Navy was in a fight against military targets. For his service during the Incident, Leahy was Mentioned in Despatches, 1 of 27 names listed in the London Gazette. Demobilised 2 October 1938, Leahy was recalled to the Royal Navy during the Second World War, being posted aboard Esperance Bay from 28 September 1939. Transferred to Tyne, Drake and Boscowan, he retired to shore in September 1945.

Sold with a rare original Wanhsien Incident letter of appreciation from the Admiralty to ‘all who were engaged in this difficult and hazardous operation’, dated 16 September 1926; a photograph of the Cockchafer, adapted into a Christmas Card (1927); a copy of Yangtze River Gunboats 1900-49 by Angus Konstam; with extensive copied research.