Naval Medals from the Collection of the Late Jason Pilalas (Part I)

Five: Captain G. A. E. Ridge, Royal Navy, later Inspecting Commander of Coast Guard

Baltic 1854-55, unnamed as issued; Crimea 1854-56, 2 clasps, Inkermann, Sebastopol (Lieut. G. A. E. Ridge. H.M.S. Diamond) contemporary engraved naming in the style of Hunt & Roskell; Ottoman Empire, Order of the Medjidie, 5th Class, silver, gold and enamel; Turkish Crimea 1855, British issue, fitted with floral scroll suspension; Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, G.IV.R., silver, with uniface double-dolphin suspension (Captn. G. A. E. Ridge R.N. Voted 6 April 1860) mounted for display, good very fine or better (5) £1,200-£1,600

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Naval Medals from the Collection of the Late Jason Pilalas.

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Alan Hall Collection, June 2000.

R.N.L.I. Silver medal Voted 6 April 1860: Captain G. A. E. Ridge R.N., Inspecting Commander H.M. Coast Guard, Newcastle, County Down.

‘14 December 1859: The Austrian brig Tikey was wrecked off St John’s Point, Dundrum Bay, Co Down, northern Ireland, and her boat containing the crew capsized. A boat, manned by 12 men, put off to rescue them but also capsized. Captain Ridge then waded out through the surf and brought one of the men to safety.’

George Agar Ellis Ridge was born on 21 August 1824, passed his ‘middie’s’ examination on 21 November 1843, and became Mate on 3 February 1846 of the Albion (90), Captain Nicholas Lockyer, attached to the Channel Squadron, and obtained his commission on 9 November 1846. His appointments were to Imaum (72) on 26 April 1847, receiving ship at Jamaica, Captain G. R. Lambert, Vindictive (50) on 25 June 1847, flag ship of Sir Francis William Austen, Commander in Chief in North America and the West Indies, and Alarm (26) on 5 October 1847, Captain Granville Gower Loch on the North American and West Indies station. In a letter of 21 February 1848, Captain Loch reports on his gallantry in an engagement with the forces of the Nicuraguan Government. See also letter from Vice Admiral Sir Francis Austen of 5 March 1848. Gazetted for these services on 20 Apri 1848.

On paying off from Alarm on 17 May 1848, he was appointed to Archer on 12 April 1850. Commodore Fanshaw reports in a letter of 2 April 1851, on 'his good conduct at the destruction of an African town on the River Benin'. He was paid off from Archer on 15 November 1853, and joined Diamond on 12 December 1853, serving in the Baltic and Crimean campaigns. He was specially promoted to be a Commander for his services in the trenches before Sebastopol on 13 November 1854. See also letter from Rear Admiral Sir Edward Lyons of 12 January 1855.

He was appointed Inspecting Commander of Coast Guard on 22 February 1856. Appointed to Newcastle, County Down on 13 March 1856. Awarded Royal National Lifesaving Institute Silver Medal in 1860, he continued to serve in the Coast Guard Service until his sudden death on 23 December 1862.

Sold with copied record of service.

Another group to his man, lacking the named RNIPLS Medal, but including an officially named NGS for Syria, is known to exist