Description

Offered is a Royal Navy general Service Medal (G.V.), impressed named 226857. HARRY TAAFFE. A.B. H.M.S. CLEOPATRA. Comes with copies of service records and medal roll.

Harry Taaffe was born on the 23/7/1887 at Handsworth, Staffordshire. A butcher’s boy by trade, he enlisted into the Royal Navy as a Boy 2^nd class on the 9/7/1903. He served in a variety of H.M. ships including Impregnable, Boscawen III, Vernon (Torpedo School), Goliath (Mediterranean fleet), Excellent I, Victory, Terrible, Renown, Vengeance, Britannia, Topaze II, Minerva II 1^st/8/1912 – 28/8/1913 (She was part of the rescue attempts when the submarine HMS B2 was sunk in a collision in October 1912), Dido II.

During WW1 he served aboard Attentive II (Scout cruiser and leader of the 9th Destroyer Flotilla at Portsmouth) but served on the Flirt (Destroyer) 1/1/1914 – 30/6/1915. she was involved in anti-submarine, counter-mining patrols and defending the drifters of the Dover Barrage. 28 /10/1914 Flirt took part in operations off the Belgian coast.

Victory 1 (Many men on the books of Victory were actually serving in ships and Victory provided pay, administration and parenting services) 1/7/1915 – 4/10/1915. Excellent (shore gunnery school) 5/10/1915 – 3/3/1916. Hecla (torpedo boat carrier/depot ship) 4/3/1916 –  10/5/1916. Victory I 11/5/1916 – 4/8/1916.

Blenheim (destroyer depot ship) serving on the Chelmer (destroyer) in the Mediterranean 5/8/1916 – 17/6/ 1917. Egmont II (ex Firefly was a base ship at Malta) 18/6/1917 – 22/7/1917. Blenheim for the Chelmer 23/7/1917 – 16/11/1917, Europa (diadem-class protected cruisers & the flagship at Mudros) 17/11/1917   – 19/12/ 1917. Blenheim 20/12/1917 – 4/3/1918, Europa 5/3/1918-2/7/1918, Victory I 3/7/1918 – 18/10/1918.

He further served in the Baltic Sea aboard Cleopatra (C-class light cruiser) 19/10/ 1918 – 25/10/1920. 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron in April 1919 and served in the Baltic Sea from 1919 to 1920 during the British campaign there against Bolshevik and German forces during the Russian Civil War (Operation Red Trek).

Post war he served on the Vernon & Victory 2. He was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in 1920, pensioned in 1922, on a reduced pension on reduction of the fleet.

Recalled as an Able Seaman 31/7/1939 and served at H.M.S. Forward (the command centre for all Royal Naval establishments in East Sussex). 1/9/1939 (the WW2 records finish at this date) it is known that he served until 14/8/1945 and was demobilised from Forward. He died in 1953.