Three: Ordinary Seaman J. Gaskell, Royal Navy, who was lost in the steamship Medoc in November 1940, when she fell victim to the Luftwaffe

1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45, in their original card forwarding box addressed to ‘Mrs. Margaret Brown, 24, Broadway, Eccleston, St. Helens’, extremely fine (3) £40-60

John Gaskell, the son of George and Nellie Gaskell of Rainford, Lancashire, was lost in the steamship Medoc on 26 November 1940, when she was torpedoed and sunk by enemy aircraft, near the Eddystone Lighthouse - one of 39 of her crew lost on the same occasion. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial - his relationship to Mrs. Margaret Brown, like his parents from Lancashire, requires further research, but most likely she was his widow, since remarried.