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Auction: 9022 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 40

x Three: Captain A. Errington, Royal Navy China 1857-60, no clasp, unnamed as issued; Egypt 1882-89, undated, one clasp, Suakin 1885 (Commdr A.J. Errington, R.N. H.M.S. Humber.); Khedive´s Star 1884-6, light contact marks, otherwise good very fine (3) Estimate £ 400-500 Captain Arnold Errington, R.N. (1840-1919); joined the Royal Navy as Cadet, 1840; served in H.M.S. Calcutta during the Baltic Campaign (entitled to medal); Midshipman 1856; served in H.M.S. Retribution, 1857-60, including during the Second China War; Lieutenant 1861; served in H.M.S. Wolverine, 1864-68, and became embroiled in the Jamaica Rebellion, 1865, during which a large number of negro freedmen burnt down the courthouse in Morant Bay and murdered several of the local officials and citizens; Governor Eyre established an illegal military Court Martial presided over by Lieutenant Herbert Brand, recently arrived from Bermuda in H.M.S. Onyx; the members of his Board were Lieutenant Errington of the Wolverine and Ensign P. Kelly, 4th West India Regiment; the trial of the prisoners took place 20.10.1865 with 126 negroes sentenced to be hung, 33 to be flogged (with 50, 60 and 100 lashes to be given where applicable), 5 were acquited and 7 remanded in custody; of those to be hung 4 were women proven to have carried cutlasses and been involved in various murders; the sentences were carried out with about 18 prisoners being executed daily; for the next three years the Governor´´s conduct was called in to question in England, with enormous protest meetings in Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park; Eyre was never prosecuted however Lieutenant Brand was eventually censured by the Admiralty Board but only for irregular Court Martial proceedings (Send a Gun Boat, Preston and Major, refers); later appointments for Errington included in H.M. Ships Forte, Wolverine, Albatross and Humber; Commander 1875; retired Captain 1888, with a pension of £400 per annum. Provenance: Captain K.J. Douglas-Morris, R.N., Collection

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