A Collection of Training Ship and Prize Medals

Conway Training Ship Prize Medal, three-masted warship, in exergue; ‘H.M.S. Conway’; reverse: engraved within a wreath of laurel, ‘Hobson Cup, Xmas 1920, J. W. Holgate, Starbd. Fore’, 32mm., silver, by ‘W.J.D.’, hallmarks obscured, unmounted, in fitted case; Warspite Training Ship Medal, fouled anchor with crown above, ‘Royal Naval Training Ship’; reverse: within a wreath of laurel (name engraved), ‘Presented to D. Broomfield as a Reward of Merit’, 31mm., silver, pierced with ring suspension, ref; Payne 326; Medal for Loyalty and Good Service, bust George V left in military uniform; reverse: within a wreath of laurel (date engraved), ‘Loyalty and Good Service’ (T. Moseley, C.P.O.), 32mm., silver, scroll suspension, first extremely fine; others with some edge bruising, very fine and better (3) £80-100

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Training Ship and Prize Medals.

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Ex Spencer Collection, D.N.W. 6 July 2004.

The Liverpool Mercantile Marine Association school was established in 1859 on the frigate H.M.S. Conway. The school was designed to prepare boys for careers in the British Royal and Merchant navies and was moored in the Mersey at Rock Ferry, Birkenhead. In 1861 the Conway was replaced by a larger frigate, H.M.S. Winchester. The Winchester was renamed the Conway and the old Conway renamed the Winchester and was used as an R.N.R. drill ship in Aberdeen. By 1875 the new Conway was found to be too small and was replaced by the 2nd rate battleship H.M.S. Nile. The Nile was renamed the Conway and the old Conway was renamed the Mount Edgecomb and was transferred to the Devonport and the Cornwall Industrial Training Ship Committee at Plymouth where she remained in use until 1920. In 1940 the ship was moved from Rock Ferry to Plas Newydd in the Menai Straits, to lessen the chance of it being bombed. In 1953 the Conway ran aground and broke her back whilst being towed to Liverpool for a refit; as a result the school was transferred to ashore to Anglesey. The school was closed in 1974.

Payne ascribes the second medal to the training ship Warspite. In 1856 the Marine Society established a school on Warspite, a 3rd rate ship-of-the-line, moored on the lower Thames. In 1876 the ship was replaced by the Conqueror (formerly Waterloo) which took the name Warspite. This ship was destroyed by fire in 1918 but the school was re-established on the 2nd class cruiser Hermione which was in turn was renamed Warspite. The ship was moored off Grays, Essex. In 1940, with the outbreak of war and the danger of it being attacked, the school was closed and the ship broken up.