About the product

Good Shooting 1908 HMS Berwick Sunk HMS Tiger

1914-15 Star Trio, Naval Good Shooting Medal, EDVII, LSGC, GV, J. B. Leonard, A.B. Royal Navy, who was onboard HMS Berwick when they rammed and sunk HMS Tiger followed by winning them a medal for Gunnery.

Out of stock

Origin: United Kingdom
Nearly Extremely Fine

Description

1914-15 Star Trio, Naval Good Shooting Medal, EDVII, Navy LSGC, GV, A.B. James B. Leonard, Royal Navy, who was onboard HMS Berwick when they rammed and sunk HMS Tiger followed by winning them a medal for Gunnery.

 

An interesting and complete Naval Good Shooting group.

 

1914-15 Star officially impressed: “204895 J. B. Leonard, A.B., R.N.” Some patchy toning and slight corrosion to obverse due to storage.
BWM and Victory: “240895 J.B. Leonard. A.B. R.N.”
Naval LSGC officially impressed: “204895 J. B. Leonard. A.B. H.M.S. Victory.”
Good Shooting officially impressed: “204895 J.B. Leonard, A.B. H.M.S. Berwick 1908 12 PR Q.F.”

 

Medals are all unworn, the trio unmounted with the original silk ribbons (we have left the ribbons off the medals as the recipient did not seem to wear them following the war), all the ribbons appear to be the original issues.
Also with his late wartime silk ribbon bar pin comprising the ribbon of the Good Shooting Medal and LS&GC Medal.

 


James Benjamin Leonard, a Londoner who had been in the Navy since he was 16, was on board HMS Berwick on 2nd April 1908 when they famously sunk the Royal Navy Torpedo Boat Destroyer HMS Tiger.
With the national embarrassment of being on board a ship that had split a Royal Navy boat in half and killed 36 men including her Captain, Lieut Middleton.
That very same year, Able Seaman Leonard, would win the rare Naval Good Shooting Medal during the Annual Fleet Competition whilst manning one of her QF 12-Pounder (3 Inch) 12 CWT Naval Guns.

 

Click here to read an article on the Tiger Disaster with photos

 

James Benjamin Leonard served on board HMS Berwick from 16th August 1907 until 2nd September 1908.

 

During World War 1 he served on HMS Bramble, a Bramble Class Gunboat from 8th August 1915 until 30th November 1917, which was service during the Mesopotamia Campaign and saw numerous journeys through the Arabian Sea around Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Oman.

 

For his interesting WW1 Naval Service, he joined HMS Bramble for his only sea service of the war on 8th August 1915.
During this time the ship was stationed at Hong Kong.

 

It then took a long journey down past Vietnam, stopping by Malaysia and Singapore, then Passing by Sri Lanka, up to Mumbai on the west coast of India, before heading over into the Persian Gulf.

 

They then spent 1916-1917 going back and force around the Persian Gulf, mostly between Muscat, Bahrain and Kuwait, aiding the Army in the “Mesopotamia” theatre around Iraq.

 


James Benjamin Leonard was born on 25th September 1883 in Holborn, London.
His Father John Leonard, a Scotsman from Dundee, had moved down south to the City of London where he married his wife Mary Alexander during August 1881, where he worked as an Infographic Printer.
His mother was also Scottish, born in Glasgow and had moved down to the City of London with her First Husband.

 

James first joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class aged 16 at HMS Impregnable on 16th June 1899.

 

He became of age whilst on board the Paddle Survey Vessel, HMS Research on 25th September 1901, becoming an Ordinary Seaman beginning his 12 years terms of engagement.

 

He had seen a number of ship postings before he joined HMS Berwick as an A.B. on 16th August 1907.

 

On 2nd April 1908, he was on board during the “HMS Tiger Disaster”, one day whilst conducting night exercises off the Isle of Wright, HMS Tiger ran across the bow of HMS Berwick, she promptly split Tiger in half and sank her.

 

Tiger was lost to a collision on 2 April 1908 while conducting night exercises off the Isle of Wight with the Portsmouth Flotilla. The "enemy" were six ships led by the battleship Prince George on transit to Portland. Tiger was the second of three destroyers in the second division to make an attack, led by Recruit. When Recruit fired a flare to signal a mock torpedo firing, she peeled off to starboard to clear the enemy ships, but Tiger kept going straight, attempting to pass between Prince George and Berwick behind. The second ship struck her amidships and broke her in two. The bow section sank quickly without survivors, and twenty-two survived from the stern section.

 

The same year Seaman Leonard would win the Naval Good Shooting Medal at the Naval Gunnery Competition.

 

He left Berwick on 2nd September 1908.

 

Having been discharged to the Fleet Reserve by the time of WW1, he returned for service, after some time with Shore Establishments he joined the Gunboat HMS Bramble on 8th August 1915, serving on her until 30th November 1917 during which time she operated in the Persian Gulf during the Mesopotamia Campaign.

 

He was Demobilised to the Shore on 21st June 1921 from HMS Victory I.