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QSA Captains Servant HMS Monarch

£245.00

Queen’s South Africa, Jonah Cornwell, Domestic 1st C and Captain’s Servant, HMS Monarch. Found love in South Africa and left the Navy in 1900 joining Cape Town Guard

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SKU: J9204 Category:
Origin: United Kingdom
Very Fine

Description

Queen’s South Africa, no bar, Jonah Cornwell, Domestic 1st Class and Captain’s Servant, HMS Monarch. Found love in South Africa and left the Navy during the war.

 

Officially impressed: “J. Cornwall, Dom. 1st Cl. H.M.S. Monarch”

 

Confirmed on the medal roll, due to the unusual spelling of his birth name “Cornwell” the hand writing is hard to decipher so the medal was named the more commonly encountered spelling of “Cornwall” (it actually looks like they wrote over the E and A on top of each other).

The medal was sent to him on 17th June 1902.

 

Very unusual to see a Naval QSA to a man who also served in the Army during the same war.

 

Jonah would see a most unusual Naval career.

 

Jonah Cornwell/Cornwall was born on 30th March 1872 in Bottisham Lode, Cambridgeshire.

 

Back in the 1891 Census, a 19 year old Jonah was undergoing training being listed as a “Servants to Officers, Studying” at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

 

He saw direct entry into the Navy immediately joining the crew of HMS Monarch on 26th January 1897, it looks like he had joined on as a Domestic 1st Class having worked as a “Domestic” already as a Civilian when the ship was stationed in the area.

 

During this time the Monarch had spent a number of years as the Guardship at Simon’s Bay sine the 1897 until 1902.

 

His only recorded ship posting of any kind was his 3 years on the ship.

 

He left the ship on 8th March 1900 “Shore per order and request”.

 

Notably on 1st February 1900, the Command of the ship had changed with the incoming Captain Charles Henry Bayly taking over command.

 

Having consulted local marriage records, it looks like Jonah had recently found love, shortly after the war had began, he married 21 year old Susan Caroline Napier at Simonstown, he was noted as a 27 year old “Captains Steward” on the marriage register.

 

The recently married Jonah looks to have taken the opportunity during the switch of Command to settle with his wife rather than remain as a Sailor.

 

Having got his discharge from the Royal Navy, he did not choose to sit idly by, he chose to enlist in the D Company of the Cape Town Guard on 8th June 1901.

 

Jonah later found work as a “Cartage Inspector” with South African Railways.

 

He died in South Africa at Wynberg, having caught Pneumonia on 30th September 1924.