Beschreibung:

The rare and impressive Great War C.M.G., inter-war Persian Gulf operations C.I.E. group of fifteen awarded to Rear-Admiral H. Boyes, Royal Navy, whose remarkable career spanned a “mention” won with the Naval Brigade during the Boxer Rebellion through to active service in Norway in 1940, between which he lent valuable services ashore in the wake of the Messina earthquake in 1908, commanded the gunboat Thistle off East Africa 1915-18 and participated in the North Russia operations of 1919 - it was partly his intelligence work in Norway that led to the successful boarding of the Altmark in February 1940 The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, C.M.G., Companion’s neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel; The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, C.I.E., Companion’s 3rd type neck badge, gold and enamel, in its Garrard & Co. case of issue; China 1900, 1 clasp, Relief of Pekin (Midsn. H. Boyes, R.N., H.M.S. Centaur); 1914-15 Star (Lt. Commr. H. Boyes, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Commr. H. Boyes, R.N.); 1939-45 Star; War Medal 1939-45; Portugal, Military Order of St. Avis, 2nd Class set of insignia, by Da Costa, comprising neck badge, gilt and enamel, and breast star, silver, with gilt and enamel centre; Norway, Order of St. Olaf, Commander’s neck badge, by Spink & Son, gold and enamel; Italy, Order of the Crown, Officer’s breast badge, gold and enamel; Italy, Messina Earthquake 1908, silver; Norway, King Haakon VII’s War Medal, together with Portsmouth Tribute Medal, ‘Naval Brigade, North China 1900’, silver and enamel, hallmarked 1901, in its Pridham & Sons case of issue, the third with one or two edge bruises, otherwise generally very fine and better (15) £3000-3500 Footnote C.M.G. London Gazette 3 June 1918. C.I.E. London Gazette 1 January 1931. Hector Boyes was born in Plymouth in February 1881, the son of Admiral Sir George Boyes, and entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet in Britannia in January 1895. Distinguished service ashore - China and Messina Appointed a Midshipman in June 1897, he served in the battleship H.M.S. Centurion from January 1898 until December 1900, in which period he was landed with the Naval Brigade during the Boxer Rebellion and was present at the relief of the Pekin Legations in June 1900, and in the subsequent operations at Tientsin (Medal & clasp), gaining a “mention” and accelerated promotion to Lieutenant in September 1902. Having then qualified as a French interpreter in 1906, Boyes served in the cruiser Euryalus at the time of the Messina earthquake in December 1908, when he was among those landed during the rescue operations and awarded the Messina Earthquake Medal - so, too, appointment to Officer of the Italian Order of the Crown, one of only three Royal Navy Lieutenants to receive this distinction for Messina (his service record refers). The Great War - gunboat command - East Africa By the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, Boyes was serving as Flag Lieutenant-Commander to Vice-Admiral T. H. M. Jerram, Commander-in-Chief, China, in the cruise Minotaur, and he quickly saw action during Jerram’s subsequent search for German warships, armed merchant cruisers and merchantmen, Minotaur bombarding enemy positions in the Tsingtau Yap. Then in September 1915, he was advanced to Commander and appointed C.O. of the Thistle, a China squadron gunboat of 710 tons, armed with two 4-inch guns and four 12-pounders, and in which he remained actively employed until October 1918, not least in operations off East Africa, for which he was ‘brought to notice by the C.-in-C., Cape, for services in the combined Naval and Military operations leading to the surrender of Dar-es-Salaam on 4 September 1916’, and for Lindi, East Africa on 11 June 1917, where he ‘most ably superintended the disembarkation’, in addition to carrying out shore bombardments and the transportation of troops. Lindi, a port in German East Africa, was occupied by British Forces in September 1915, but afte