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Auction: 11011 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 118

A Great War Group of Three to Able Seaman A.F.P. Gibson, Royal Navy, a Veteran of the Battle of the Falkland Islands, 8.12.1914, Who Went on to Participate in the Famous Naval Field Gun Competition at Olympia in 1919 1914-15 Star (J. 9406, A.F.P. Gibson A.B., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (J. 9406 A.F.P. Gibson. A.B. R.N.), very fine, with related Naval Field Gun Competition Medal, silver, the reverse engraved, ´Olympia, 1919, A. Gibson, R.N.´, this rare (4) Estimate £ 500-700 J.9406 Able Seaman Arthur Frederick Parsons Gibson, born Edgware, Middlesex,1893; joined Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class, August 1910; served during the Great War in H.M.S. Kent (cruiser), 3.10.1914-10.6.1918; during which time she took part in the Battle of the Falkland Islands, 8.12.1914, when the Kent fought a ´Duel to the Death´ with the Nurnberg and was hit 38 times; however, she managed to punish her adversary even more severely, and eventually sank the German vessel; the Kent was in action again in March 1915, off the island of Juan Fernandez, this time when she pulverised the Dresden to such an extent that she blew up; for a full and vivid account of Kent´s activities in the opening months of the War, see Keble Chatterton´s Gallant Gentlemen, pp. 85-127, and Surgeon T. B. Dixon´s edited diary, The Enemy Fought Splendidly; Gibson was posted to the gunnery school Excellent in June 1918, an appointment that led to his participation in the famous Naval Field Gun Competition at Olympia in the following year, a tremendous feat of skill and strength which survives under the auspices of the Royal Tournament; surprisingly, very few participants´ medals appear on the market, or certainly ones dating back to the very origins of this famous competition; Gibson was discharged ´time expired´, December 1922.

Sold for
£900