Naval Medals from the Collection of the Late Jason Pilalas

The exceptional Great War destroyer captain’s D.S.O., inter-War M.V.O. group of five awarded to Commander J. O. Barron, Royal Navy, who displayed exceptional gallantry at Jutland, when, as captain of the destroyer Acasta, he braved a galling fire to offer assistance to Loftus Jones, V.C. in the destroyer Shark

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamels, with integral top riband bar; The Royal Victorian Order, M.V.O., Member’s 4th Class breast badge, silver-gilt and enamels, the reverse officially numbered ‘1100’; 1914-15 Star (Commr. J. O. Barron, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Commr. J. O. Barron. R.N.) mounted as worn, good very fine (5) £3,600-£4,400

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

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D.S.O. London Gazette 11 December 1918: ‘For services in Grand Fleet destroyers in the period 1 January to 30 June 1918.’

M.V.O. London Gazette 23 July 1920.

John Ouchterlony Barron was born in Reigate, Surrey on 5 October 1882, the son of an army officer, Netterville Barron, and his wife Louisa, daughter of General John Twiss.

Entering the Royal Navy as a Cadet in Britannia in July 1896, Barron was advanced to Lieutenant in December 1903 and to Lieutenant-Commander in December 1911. He married Evelyn Buckle in June of the latter year and their son, also John, became a well-known actor, best remembered for his role as ‘CJ’ in the comedy series The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin, starring Leonard Rossiter.

Another happy event in 1912 was Barron’s appointment to his first command, the destroyer H.M.S. Acasta, and she was quickly called to action in the Great War, when she sallied forth to intercept the enemy squadron that bombarded Scarborough on 14 December 1914.

But it was at Jutland that Barron and the Acasta gained wider fame, as made clear by the extensive, glowing commentary afforded both. One witness to the destroyer’s plucky performance was moved to exclaim, ‘Perfectly magnificent! Thank God I’m an Englishman!’

On that occasion, in the company of her consorts from the 5th Destroyer Flotilla, Acasta was attached to the 3rd Battle Cruiser Squadron, and took part in a spirited counter-attack against German destroyers before coming under fire from enemy light cruisers. Barron takes up the story:

‘Things very quickly became unpleasantly warm. The German shooting was undoubtedly good, their salvoes falling close together – perhaps too close together, really – but at first we were little hit, although a piece of shell scalped a signalman on our bridge, and a lot of shell splinters were flying about. We afterwards picked out 30 or 40 pieces from the mattresses slung round the bridge. Also, on the bridge we were all soaked through by the spray thrown up by shell, causing the sub.-lieutenant to remark that, “An umbrella would be handy” … ’

The Jutland Honours, by Chris Bilham, continues:

‘The Acasta received her first hit, right forward on the waterline; it felt as if the whole ship had been pushed sideways and the mess deck was badly damaged. Barron then noticed that Shark had been hard hit; Acasta came alongside and Barron offered his assistance. “Don’t get sunk for us!” Loftus Jones shouted back, and ordered Barron away. While approaching Shark, Acasta noticed the Lutzow on her port quarter and turned to attack her. She approached to within 4,500 yards and launched a torpedo; Barron believed that it hit, but this was not confirmed by post-war investigation.

For twenty minutes the Acasta was under a storm of fire from the battlecruiser’s secondary armament and from her escorting cruisers and destroyers. She was hit repeatedly; two shells burst in the engine-room killing or wounding the Engineer Officer and four men. They smashed the steering engine, set fire to the engineer’s store, wrecked the dynamo and cut various exhaust pipes. The engine-room filled with scalding steam and had to be evacuated. Barron rang down “Stop” and “Astern” but with no result. As a result, the destroyer was unable either to steer or stop her engines and was tuning wild circles directly in the path of the approaching Grand Fleet. She managed to barge her way through the escorting destroyer screen without collision, more by good luck than management.

At around 18.30 the crew finally managed to cut off steam at the boilers and the ship came to a halt, flying the signals “Not under control” and “Am in danger of sinking.” The lines of battleships swept past only a couple of hundred yards away, some to port and some to starboard, just as if Acasta was the royal yacht at a fleet review. The men were very excited and cheered each ship as she passed, with a particularly loud cheer for the Commander-in-Chief in Iron Duke. For their part, men in the battleships were impressed by the display of enthusiasm from the battered destroyer’s indomitable crew. An officer in the Marlborough recalled, “We passed a disabled destroyer on our starboard bow, very close to us. She was badly holed forward and aft, and was very much down by the bows, but the crew were clustered aft cheering us and the other ships as we passed, and then she disappeared astern, rolling heavily in the wash of the battle-fleet, but with her ensign still flying, apparently not done for yet.”

Barron inspected his wrecked ship:

“The engine-room was in an awful mess, and the store-room just abaft it absolutely wrecked and smouldering. The dynamo had ceased to exist, there was oil-fuel everywhere, and the upper deck all round the after part of the engine-room was riddled with holes. We did our best to fill up holes in the side with hammocks, canvas, etc., but it didn’t make much difference. We had great difficulty in getting down to the engine-room, as there was still a lot of steam escaping, but eventually we got all the people up from there … The destruction of the dynamo left us with no lights except candles, which made repair work very difficult, especially later when it got dark, but the engine-room department did wonders particularly when it is remembered the store-room had been wrecked, and that they were left with practically no spare parts or tools. The remarks of the artificers trying to fit a three-eighths nut on to a five-eighths bolt, by candle-light in some out-of-the-way corner, working up to their waists in oil and water, were distinctly illuminating.”

Around midnight these repairs enabled Acasta to steam about two or three knots and she set a zig zag course towards Scotland. At 9.45 a.m. on 1st June she encountered the destroyer Nonsuch which escorted her towards Aberdeen. Around noon the Nonsuch took Acasta in tow as her fuel was almost exhausted and the weather was deteriorating. The two ships arrived at Aberdeen on the evening of the 2nd. Her casualties were six killed, one wounded. Acasta was so badly damaged that she practically had to be rebuilt.’

Loftus Jones of the Shark was awarded a posthumous V.C. and Barron a mention in despatches (London Gazette 15 September 1916, refers). His service record further records his special promotion to Commander:

‘This officer stood by Shark under a very heavy fire and although the engine room was wrecked and steering gear broken down, and the ship a partial wreck, he successfully by the aid of Nonsuch returned to harbour.’

Following Jutland, Barron commanded the destroyers Nizam (June-October 1916), Restless (October 1916-July 1917), Onslaught (October 1917-April 1918), and Wesley, from April 1918.

Placed on the Retired List at his own request in August 1922, his decision was possibly influenced by events of October 1923, when a Receiving Order in Bankruptcy was made against him at Portsmouth Court. Then in February 1927, his name was removed from the Retired List in consequence of his conviction on a charge of embezzlement committed against his employer, the British Legion Poppy Factory Limited. He was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment.

The Commander died at Hove, Sussex in 1963.

Sold with his original D.S.O. and M.V.O. warrants, dated 11 December 1918 and 23 July 1920, the latter with related forwarding letter, and both accompanied by copies of the relevant statutes; together with his ‘Jutland M.I.D.’ certificate, dated 15 September 1916.