A Collection of Awards to Merchant Seamen and D.E.M.S. Gunners

Eight: Captain D. G. H. Osborn-Baillie, Merchant Navy, late Royal Naval Reserve, a long served officer of the P. & O. Line who commanded a liberty ship for much of the last War

British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. D. G. H. Osborn-Baillie, R.N.R.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; War Medal 1939-45; Coronation 1953, mounted as worn, good very fine or better (8)
£180-220

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Awards to Merchant Seamen and D.E.M.S. Gunners.

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Donald Guy Hatton Osborn-Baillie, who was born in Westminster, London, in January 1895, attended the training ship Worcester 1911-13, prior to joining his first seagoing appointment, the Pera, on the eve of hostilities.

Appointed a Midshipman in the Royal Naval Reserve in December 1915, he subsequently witnessed active service in the armed merchant cruisers Avoca and Galgarian, prior to joining H.M.S. Isis as a Sub. Lieutenant in May 1917. Demobilised in September 1919, after gaining the temporary rank of Lieutenant, he returned to the employ of P. & O. and took his 1st Mate’s ticket in the same year.

For much of the 1939-45 War Osborn-Baillie commanded the liberty ship Samsoaring, in which period he took her to the Mediterranean on three occasions, in addition to work on the Atlantic run and in home waters - during one coastal convoy from London to Hull, her after deck ‘corrugated like a concertina’ during a ferocious gale, one of several close shaves described by Osborn-Baillie in his book, A Sea Affair. He finally came ashore in February 1955; sold with a file of research, including confirmation of his Coronation Medal 1953.