Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Stoker 1st Class J. Constant, Royal Navy, who was killed when the destroyer H.M.S. Gurkha was mined off Dungeness in February 1917
1915-15 Star (287877, J. Constant, Sto. 1, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (287877 J. Constant. Sto. 1 R.N.) good very fine (3) £80-£100

Spink, September 2001.

John Constant was born in Newport, Monmouthshire on 3 September 1879 and entered the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class in March 1898.
A Stoker 1st Class in the destroyer H.M.S. Gurkha on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he remained likewise employed up until her loss. In that period Gurkha lent valuable service in the Dover Patrol and was largely responsible for the destruction of the U-8 on 4 March 1915. However, as stated, she was mined and sunk off Dungeness on 8 February 1917, with a loss of 74 men, Constant among them.
His parents Frederick and Emma appear to have pre-deceased him and his next of kin was his sister, Mrs. Winnifred Fisher of 5 Clarence Road, Newport.