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Auction: 24112 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 446

Four: Chief Petty Officer Cook W.S. Prout, Royal Navy who served on H.M.S. Obedient at Jutland and was killed during the Bombing of the Devonport shore base H.M.S. Drake on 21 April 1941

1914-15 Star (M.2280, W. S. Prout, L. Ck. Mte., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (M.2280 W. S. Prout L. Ck. Mte. R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R (M.2280 W. S. Prout L. Ck. H.M.S. Woolwich), contact marks and minor edge bruising, nearly very fine (4)

William Samson Prout was born at Penryn, Cornwall on 16 May 1892, and commenced his naval service on 3 August 1910. On the outbreak of the Great War he was stationed with the cruiser Berwick and was with the vessel for her capture of the Spreewald on 10 September 1914.

Prout joined the destroyer Obedient on 2 February 1916 and was still with her where she steamed out to action in the Battle of Jutland. Here she fought as part of the Thirteenth Destroyer Flotilla and was part of the squadron which finished off the damaged V48 which had been left crippled by the defiance of H.M.S. Shark. She launched a torpedo attack against the Battleship Pommern but appears to have missed.

Leaving Obedient in 1918 Prout, was paid a war gratuity for services in H.M.S. Colleen (Flying Fox) in 1919, and was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 10 September 1925. He was shore pensioned as Chief Petty Officer Cook on 2 August 1932.

Mobilised from the reserve in September 1938, he was killed by enemy action during an air raid when serving in H.M.S. Drake at Devonport on 21 April 1941. A bomb struck the Boscawen Accommodation Block during the raid, killing 113 sailors. Prout is buried in Plymouth (Weston Mill) Cemetery; sold together with copied service papers.

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Sold for
£420

Starting price
£110