Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Chief Petty Officer W. A. Burtonshaw, Royal Navy

1914-15 Star (163277, W. A. Burtenshaw [sic]. A.C.P.O., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (163277 W. A. Burtenshaw [sic]. C.P.O. R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., E.VII.R. (163277 W. A. Burtonshaw, P.O.1Cl., H.M.S. Victory.); France, Third Republic, Medaille Militaire, silver, gilt, and enamel, with trophy of arms suspension, enamel damage to last, light contact marks, generally very fine (5) £140-£180

M.I.D. London Gazette 24 May 1917.

French Medaille Militaire London Gazette 25 January 1918.

William Alfred Burtonshaw was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on 9 July 1875, and joined the Royal Navy on 9 July 1893. He was advanced Leading Seaman on 19 September 1896; Petty Officer 2nd Class on 10 September 1900; Petty Officer First Class on 12 April 1903; and Chief Petty Officer on 31 September 1915. He was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 22 July 1908, and served during the Great War in the Destroyer H.M.S. Fawn, initially as part of the 6th Destroyer Flotilla based at Dover, before she was transferred in November 1916 to the 7th Flotilla on the Humber River, where she was deployed on anti-submarine and counter-mining patrols. For his services during the Great War Burtonshaw was Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the French Medaille Militaire, the latter most likely for his services on anti-submarine and counter-mining patrols in the North Sea. He was shore pensioned on 16 January 1920.