Offered is a group of 4 medals to Chief Yeoman of Signals G.A.J. Burchfield, who served in both world wars. During WW1, as a signaller, he was present on the bridge during the Battle of Heligoland Bight, the Battle of Dogger Bank, the Battle of Jutland and the British campaign in the Baltic 1918–1919, where Admiral Sinclair vowed ‘to attack the Bolsheviks as far as my guns can reach’

1914 – 15 Star, impressed named J.26157. G.A.J. BURCHFIELD. SIG. R.N. British War and Victory medals (1914 – 18), impressed named J. 26157.  G.A.J. BURCHFIELD. L. SIG. R.N. royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct medal (G.V.), impressed named J.26157 G.A.J. BURCHFIELD. Y.S. H.M.S. EFFINGHAM. Court mounted for display & white metal and enamel tea spoon ROYAL NAVY.  H.M.S ROYAL SOVERIGN. Comes with copies of service papers, medal rolls and newspaper article.

Chief Yeoman of Signals George Alfred John Burchfield was born on the 21/9/1896, at Patcham, Sussex. A kitchen porter by trade, he enlisted into the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class on the 26/8/1913. He served on a variety of H.M. ships and shore bases pre war including Vivid I, Ganges (promoted to Signals Boy August 1914) & Victory I.

He served during WW1 aboard the following ships as a signaller: Invincible (Battlecruiser) 13/4/1914 – 4/11/1914 which fought at the Battle of Heligoland Bight. Promoted to Ordinary Signalman he served on the New Zealand (Battlecruiser) 5/11/1914 – 1/12/1914, Leviathan (Drake-class armoured cruisers) 2/12/1914 – 17/1/1915.

The Battle of Dogger Bank

New Zealand 18/1/1915 – 22/2/1915, the New Zealand was able to open fire on Blücher and continued to engage the armoured cruiser after the other British battlecruisers had switched targets to the German battlecruisers. After about an hour, New Zealand had knocked out Blücher's forward turret, and Indomitable began to fire on her as well.  Two 12-inch shells pierced the German ship's armoured deck and exploded in an ammunition room four minutes later. This started a fire amidships that destroyed her two port 21 cm turrets, while the concussion damaged her engines so that her speed dropped to 17 knots, and jammed her steering gear. Later Beatty ordered Indomitable to attack her, but the combination of a signalling error by Beatty's flag lieutenant and heavy damage to Beatty's flagship Lion, which had knocked out her radio and caused enough smoke to obscure her signal halyards, caused the rest of the British battlecruisers (temporarily under the command of Rear Admiral Sir Gordon Moore in New Zealand), to think that that signal applied to them. In response, they turned away from Hipper's main body and engaged Blücher. New Zealand fired 147 shells at Blücher before the German ship capsized and sank after being torpedoed by Arethusa. New Zealand suffered no damage during the battle.

Galatea (Arethusa-class light cruiser) 23/2/1915 – 24/4/1915.

The Battle of Jutland

Cordelia (C-class light cruiser) 25/4/1915 – 29/5/1917 (promoted to Leading Signalman), which was part of the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron. The 1st L.C.S. was assigned to screen Beatty's battlecruisers and were the first British ships to spot and engage the ships of the German High Seas Fleet on the afternoon of 31 May. Cordelia fired four rounds from her main armament at the light cruiser Elbing, but they fell short of the target. The ship was not heavily engaged during the battle and only fired a total of a dozen rounds from her 6-inch guns and three from her 4-inch guns. She received no damage in return.

He served the remainder of the war on the Champion (C-class light cruiser) 30/5/1917 – 20/2/1919.

The British campaign in the Baltic 1918–1919 (Royal Navy)

British forces denied the Bolsheviks the ability to move by sea, Royal Navy ships bombarded the Bolsheviks on land in support of Estonian and Latvian troops and provided supplies.

He initially served on the Wallace (Destroyer leader) with the Greenwich being the depot ship 4/4/1919 – 30/9/1919. In late May 1919, the Wallace led the 1st Flotilla when it deployed to the Baltic Sea as part of the British operations in the Baltic during the Russian Civil War.  31/5/1919, the Wallace was lying off Seskar in the Gulf of Finland, with the cruisers Cleopatra, Dragon and Galatea, and the destroyers Voyager, Vanessa, Wryneck, Versatile and Vivacious when the destroyer Walker, which was on patrol at the edge of the Russian defensive minefield, came under attack by the Russian destroyer Azard, supported by the battleship Petropavlovsk. The British force set out in support of Walker (which was hit twice by shells from Petropavlovsk), but the Russians withdrew behind a minefield before a more general engagement could occur. The 1st Flotilla was relieved from Baltic duties by the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla in August 1919.

He moved to the Velox (Destroyer) with the Greenwich being the depot ship (which later was switched to the Colb?) 1/10/1919 – 1/9/1920 for further service in the Baltic.

On returning home, he continued serving on the Victory I, Assistance, Rocket, Douglas. Centaur, Darkmouth, Constance, St Vincent, Enterprise, Effingham, Nelson, Royal Sovereign 18/9/1932 – 1/8/1934 where he was promoted to Chief Yeoman Signals.  Finally discharging to shore pension 20/9/1936 after 23 years.

Recalled for WW2 and served in Victory 1, Victory 3 and Victory 4. He was discharged again 31/1/1945 and died in August 1985 at St Albans, Hertfordshire.

An excellent book FREEING THE BALTIC 1918-1920 - (Naval & Military Press), recommended reading.