Exceptional Naval and Polar Awards from the Collection of RC Witte

The Great War C.B.E. group of five awarded to Captain W. D. Irvin, Royal Navy, who won a “mention” for his command of the destroyer Moon at Jutland, and added the C.B.E. to his accolades in 1919 after distinguished service in the Dover Patrol
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Military) Commander’s 1st type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel; 1914-15 Star (Lt. Commr. W. D. Irvin, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Capt. W. D. Irvin, R.N.); Coronation 1911, privately engraved, ‘Lieut. Commander W. D. Irvin, H.M.S. Basilisk’ the last four mounted as worn, generally very fine (5) £600-800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Exceptional Naval and Polar Awards from the Collection of RC Witte.

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C.B.E. London Gazette 27 May 1919.

William Dion Irvin was born in 1870, the son of David Irvin of Bombay, India, and was educated at the Northern Institute, Liverpool. Entering the Royal Navy shortly thereafter, he was appointed Sub. Lieutenant in February 1896 and, having obtained his Torpedo & Gunnery Certificates, was advanced to Lieutenant in October 1906. Command of the destroyer Basilisk, and service as a Division Inspection Officer in the Coast Guard in Aberdeenshire, followed, and by the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he had attained the rank of Lieutenant-Commander.

A busy wartime career ensued, initally in command of the Milbrook, but from mid-May 1916 the Moon, a ship of the 11th Destroyer Flotilla, in which capacity he served at Jutland, having rejoined the Flotilla direct from a patrol at 2 p.m. on 31st May. That evening, in consort with the cruiser Castor, the 11th engaged the enemy’s Second Scouting Group, a confused action on account of the blinding flash of the guns. Later, Moon screened the Valiant on her return to Scapa. Irvin was duly mentioned in Jellicoe’s despatch dated 23 August 1916 (London Gazette 15 September 1916). In November of the latter year, he removed to the Syren, and in January 1917 to the Meteor, another destroyer of the Dover Patrol, and it was in her, on 24 February, that he went to the assistance of the Oberon, who had had her stern blown off by either a torpedo or mine - it was by one account ‘a fine piece of work’ by Irvin, who managed to tow his crippled sister-ship back to port. Removing to the command of the Lochinvar that May, he carried out a brace of special missions to Zeebrugge and Ostend, each time embarking Commander J. S. G. Fraser from Admiral Bacon’s Staff, who oversaw the laying of special buoys to aid our monitors carry out bombardments of those ports, work which involved steaming very close to the shore in shoal water - at night.

Irvin’s next command was the Mastiff, June to September 1917, in which ship, on 14 August, he rescued the crew of a downed R.N.A.S. Airship, the SS. Z2. Unfortunately his attempt to save the airship itself was less successful, for, being of extremely light structure, it was difficult enough to handle on the ground:

‘Part of the envelope inconveniently swung over the destroyer’s hot funnels, whereupon the remaining hydrogen ignited like a Roman candle. The blazing envelope fell and spread the burning canvas over the ship’s decking. Mastiff’s crew hurriedly cut away huge chunks of it and threw it over the side but, even so, two men were seriously burned in the process, one of them later dying of his injuries.’

Irvin had, meanwhile, been advanced to Commander ‘for distinguished services in war operations, with seniority to 2 September 1916’ and, following the award of his C.B.E. and an appointment at the training establishment Imperieuse, he was placed on the Retired List in the rank of Captain in August 1919. Between the Wars, he appears to have acted as a representative of the South Africa Motor Trade Association in London, but he was recalled on the renewal of hostilities and served as S.N.O. Ferry Services 1942-45, work that resulted in him winning his second “mention” (London Gazette 1 January 1945 refers). He died in September 1956.