A Collection of Egypt Medals to the Royal Navy

Pair: Chief Petty Officer H. Gable, Royal Navy, who was wounded at the Battle of Tofrek on 22 March 1885 when, as part of the Naval Brigade from H.M.S. Dolphin, their Gardner gun guarding the Berkshire’s redoubt was over-run, with the entire gun crew either killed or wounded

South Africa 1877-79, no clasp (H. Gable. P.O. 1. Cl: H.M.S. “Orontes.”); Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 2 clasps, Suakin 1885, Tofrek (H. Gable, Qr. Mr. H.M.S. “Inconstant.”) light contact marks overall, therefore nearly very fine (2) £1,600-£2,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Egypt Medals to the Royal Navy.

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One of only 12 Tofrek clasps awarded to H.M.S. Dolphin, out of a total of only 49 Tofrek clasps to Royal Naval personnel, all to men who formed part of the Naval Brigade present at the action at Tofrek, 22 March 1885.

Henry Gable was born in Lee, Kent, on 24 October 1851 and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Second Class in March 1867. Advanced Petty Officer First Class on 6 January 1877, he served in H.M.S. Orontes from 9 February 1878 to 27 January 1880, seeing active service in this ship during the South African War. Appointed Quartermaster, he served in H.M.S. Inconstant from 29 August 1880 to 18 November 1882, seeing active service in this ship during the Egyptian campaign of 1882. He later served in H.M.S. Dolphin from 1 May 1884 to 3 August 1886, seeing further active service in this ship during the Sudanese campaign of 1885. He was landed for service in the Eastern Soudan with the small Naval Brigade under Commander W. C. H. Domville, R.N., H.M.S. Condor, and was present at various actions at Suakin during 1885 and at the battle of Tofrek on 22 March 1885.

The Naval Brigade at Tofrek
At the request of Major General Sir J. MacNeill, a small Naval Brigade of 6 officers and 43 men with 4 Gardner guns was attached to his force. Each gun crew comprised one Lieutenant and 6 men. Two Gardner guns were each allocated for placement at the northern and southern outward facing corners of the defensive squares formed by the Berkshire Regiment and the Royal Marine Battalion. When the enemy’s surprise attack materialised, the naval Gardner guns were quickly in action but again proved unreliable and ineffective. Jamming after firing only a few rounds, the northern gun crews were quickly overrun and became involved in hectic hand to hand fighting with the fanatical Arabs.

The twenty minutes that the battle lasted were crowded with cool bravery, wild bewilderment and fanatical desperation. As the smoke and dust cleared away, a shambles of bodies of both men and animals was revealed. The British lost seven officers and sixty-three men killed, and six officers and eighty-nine men wounded. The small Naval Brigade suffered heavily, losing 40% of its strength with one officer and six men killed, and one officer and four men wounded.

Casualties from H.M.S. Dolphin were particularly heavy- their officer, Lieutenant Montague Seymour, was killed, as were four ratings (Quartermaster H. Bailey; Able Seamen J. Connors and T. Gears; and Signalman Second Class F. Hogan); and two ratings were wounded (Quartermaster W. Bryant; and Captain’s Cosxwain H. Gable). Given the number of casualties involved (1 Lieutenant and 6 men), it is likely that these were the crew all manning the same over-run gun. Recovering from his wounds, Gable was promoted Chief Petty Officer on 13 August 1885, and was shore pensioned on 17 February 1890.

Sold with copied service records and medal roll extracts.