Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: William White, Royal Navy, Steward to Hon. Henry Keppel, R.N., 1853-61

Baltic 1854-55, unnamed as issued; Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Sebastopol (William White, Naval Brigade) contemporary engraved naming; China 1857-60, 1 clasp, Fatshan 1857, unnamed as issued; Turkish Crimea, Sardinian issue, unnamed, the first three fitted with silver ribbon buckles, good very fine (4) £500-600

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals formed by the late Tim Ash.

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William White was born in Dublin on 3 June 1824, and was employed during his early years as a domestic servant. He joined the Royal Navy aboard H.M.S. St Jean D’Acre at Plymouth on 23 August 1853. On 16 October following, presumably after a period of probationary service, he was appointed Steward to the Captain of the ship, the Hon. Henry Keppel, R.N.

White served as Keppel’s Steward, firstly aboard the St Jean D’Acre, which was engaged in the Baltic and then in the Crimea, both of which led to the issue of campaign medals. He then served aboard Rodney, Collossus and Raleigh, the latter ship being lost at sea when she struck a submerged rock near Hong Kong. Her crew were engaged during the China war of 1857, under Captain Keppel, and White received the medal with clasp for Fatshan 1857. In 1859 Keppel was appointed Groom in Waiting to Queen Victoria and, though he does not mention White in his memoirs at this time, it is probable that White remained in his service during this period.

In 1860 Keppel was appointed to the command of the Cape Station aboard H.M.S. Forte, where White is recorded as being with him. The next year, following a contretemps with the Governor at the Cape, Keppel was appointed to the command off the South East Coast of America, a post Keppel considered junior to that of the Cape. He therefore resigned the command off Brazil, handed over H.M.S. Forte to his successor and returned to England, again with White as his Steward, aboard the Emerald.

Admiral Keppel struck his flag aboard Emerald on 6 August 1861, and White was struck off the same day. How long he remained in Keppel’s service is not known as Keppel himself did not return to sea until 1866, when he was appointed to the China Command. However, amongst the many letters of congratulation that he received at this time was one ‘from my old Steward, William White, now an Admiralty Messenger’. White’s death was recorded in September 1883.

Note: The Baltic medal was not present when Tim Ash purchased these medals in 1997 and was added to complete the group. The full story is told in an article published in the O.M.R.S. Journal, Winter 1999.

Sold with a comprehensive file of research and a portrait photograph believed to be of the recipient with his family.