Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Chief Engine Room Artificer 1st Class W. Davison, Royal Navy, served on H.M.S. Doon, a destroyer that engaged the German battlecruisers bombarding Hartlepool, 16 December 1914

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 1 clasp, Natal (E.R.A., H.M.S. Widgeon) small impressed naming; 1914-15 Star (269719 C.E.R.A.2, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (269719 C.E.R.A.1, R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (269719 William Davison, C.E.R.A. 2Cl., H.M.S. Pembroke) good very fine (5) £300-350

William Davison was born in Alnwick, Northumberland on 24 June 1873. A Fitter & Turner by occupation, he entered the Royal Navy as an Engine Room Artificer 4th Class on 8 May 1899. Serving as such on Widgeon, June 1900-August 1901 he saw service in Natal during the Boer War. Davison was advanced to E.R.A. 3rd Class in April 1903 when on Thetis; E.R.A. 2nd Class in April 1907 when on Kent and C.E.R.A. 2nd Class in November 1912 when on St. George. Throughout the Great War Davison served on the destroyer Doon.

On the morning of 16 December 1914 the elderly destroyers Doon, Test, Waveney and Moy were on patrol 5 miles N.E. of Hartlepool, when in the mist they encountered the German battlecruisers Seydlitz and Moltke and the heavy cruiser Blücher on their way to bombard the port of Hartlepool. Doon tried to press home a torpedo attack, whilst Test, Waveney and Moy opened fire with their guns. Getting to 5,000 yards, Doon fired one torpedo, which missed. The German cruisers returned fire, gaining hits on Doon and Waveney. Hopelessly outgunned, the four destroyers made a swift escape, with Davison on board the Doon no doubt squeezing every possible knot from the engines. Doon made good her escape having suffered one man killed and 11 wounded. The German cruisers then went on to bombard Hartlepool. The town was hit by some 1150 shells which resulted in the death of 117 people. On the same day, cruisers Derfflinger, Von der Tann and Kolberg bombarded the North Yorkshire seaside towns of Scarborough and Whitby.

With copied service paper.