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

The Great War group of three awarded to Captain Thomas Parry Bonham, commanding H.M.S. Black Prince, killed in action at the battle of Jutland when his ship was blown up with the loss of all hands

British War and Victory Medals (Capt. T. P. Bonham, R.N.); Russia, Empire, Order of St Stanislas, 3rd Class neck badge by Eduard, gold and enamels, kokoshnik mark for 1908-17; together with Memorial Plaque (Thomas Parry Bonham) in its card envelope with Buckingham Palace enclosure, extremely fine (4) £2,600-£3,000

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

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Thomas Parry Bonham was the son of Admiral C. W. Bonham, R.N., and was born on 31 March 1873; he entered the Royal Navy in January 1886. He was Commander of Vernon Torpedo School between 1906 and 1910, where he was likely training Russian naval officers, hence his award of the Order of St Stanislas in August 1909. From February 1914 he was made Inspecting Captain of Mine Sweeping Vessels, which position he held until January 1916, when he was given command of the armoured cruiser Black Prince, which was later sunk at Jutland.

‘The cruiser Black Prince which, at the first meeting of the two main fleets had followed her flagship, Defence, into action and been roughly handled at the time that Defence had been blown up and Warrior disabled, had been left behind by the Grand Fleet's turn to the southward after deployment. For some reason which will never be known, she was still at this time far astern of and out of touch with the British fleet; but when a line of battleships was dimly seen ahead, it was no doubt thought that they were the British squadrons. Course was altered to close them. At a bare half-mile range, the German recognition signal flashed out. The horrified Captain Bonham, swung his ship away in a desperate effort to escape, but it was too late.
In the battleship Thuringen the same deadly efficient night action procedure that had been displayed at the head of the line went into play. Brilliantly lit by half-a-dozen searchlights, the Black Prince was raked from stern to stem by a tornado of shells and lay a helpless wreck before she could even fire a shot in reply. As she drifted down the German line, ship after ship opened up on her, Thuringen, Ostfriesland, Nassau and, finally, as the fleet flagship Friedrich der Grosse, added her quota, the Black Prince met the same end as the Defence, blowing up with a tremendous explosion, vanishing with all hands...’ ("Jutland" by Captain Donald MacIntyre, 1957, refers).