Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Able Seaman P. Foley, Royal Navy, who was killed in action in H.M.S. Infatigable at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916

1914-15 Star (197672, P. Foley, A.B., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (197672 P. Foley. A.B. R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (197672. Peter Foley, A.B. H.M.S. Indefatigable.) nearly extremely fine (4) £300-£400

Peter Foley was born in Hoylake, Cheshire, on 18 March 1882. He joined the Royal Navy from school and was appointed Boy 2nd Class aboard H.M.S. Black Prince on 3 January 1898. Advanced Boy 1st Class on 14 July 1898, and Able Seaman in the protected cruiser H.M.S. Highflyer on 7 July 1902, he transferred to the battlecruiser H.M.S. Infatigable on 17 June 1913, and was present when she bombarded Ottoman fortifications defending the Dardanelles on 3 November 1914. Sent to Malta for a refit, H.M.S. Indefatigable returned to the United Kingdom in February 1915 and rejoined the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron.

H.M.S. Indefatigable was subsequently sunk on 31 May 1916 when she was hit several times in the first few minutes of the “Run to the South”, the opening phase of the battlecruiser action at Jutland. Struck around the rear turret by two or three heavy calibre 11-inch shells from the German battlecruiser Von der Tann, the subsequent detonation of her magazines resulted in large pieces of the ship being thrown 200 feet into the air; of her crew of 1,019 sailors, only 3 survived. Foley was amongst those killed and is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.

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