WW1 & Persian Gulf medals Chief Stoker P.O. Haberfield. who served off the coast of Gallipoli aboard H.M.S. Dartmouth
Naval General Service Medal (G.V.R.), with clasp PERSIAN GULF 1909 – 1914, impressed named 294158 T. W. HABERFIELD. STO. P.O. H.M.S. DARTMOUTH. 1914 – 15 Star, British War and Victory Medals (1914 – 18) all impressed named 294158 T. W. HABERFIELD. ACT. CH. STO. R.N.; Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (G.V.R.) impressed named 294158 T. W. HABERFIELD. CH STO. H.M.S. RESOLUTION. Medals come with copies of service records and medal rolls.
Chief Stoker Thomas Walter Haberfield was born on 4/3/1880 in Bristol, England. A labourer by trade he enlisted into the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class on 4/1/1900. Over the next 22 years he served on a variety of H.M. ships and shore bases including:
HMS Dartmouth (town class light cruiser) serving on her from 20/8/1913 – 30/6/1915 as a Stoker Petty Officer.
Pre Great War she was part of the East Indies Squadron and was operating in the Persian Gulf supressing the arms trafficking in the Arabian Sea. He qualified for the medal with clasp. It wasn’t with out risk as 7217 clasps were issued, with 6 men being killed in action, 1 died of wounds, 18 were wounded in action and nearly 400 men died of the climate and disease.
On the outbreak of the Great war, Dartmouth escorted a troop convoy from Karachi to Mombasa in Kenya and then took part in the search for the German cruiser Königsberg. On 9/10/1914 she captured the German tug Adjutant in the Mozambique Channel. The Konigsberg was located moored up the Rufiji delta, and on 2 November, Dartmouth attempted to engage Königsberg or the supporting steamer Somali but the German ships were too far upstream to be successfully engaged. On the 11 November, Dartmouth left to reinforce the Cape of Good Hope Station.
In February 1915, she was sent to the Dardanelles in support of the Gallipoli Campaign. On 15 March she suffered a boiler explosion that killed 15 of her crew and he was lucky to have survived uninjured.
Despite this damage, Dartmouth continued operations, and on 18 March Dartmouth patrolled off the West coast of the Gallipoli peninsula while a final attempt was made by the battleships of the fleet to force the straits during daylight. The attack was a failure, with three battleships sunk by mines, and several more ships heavily damages by mines or by Turkish gunfire. Dartmouth escorted the battlecruiser HMS Inflexible, badly damaged by striking a mine, to Tenedos.
On 25 April, the Allies landed at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles on Gallipoli, with Dartmouth taking part in a diversionary simulated landing further north at Bulair.
In May 1915, Dartmouth was reassigned to the 8th Light Cruiser Squadron at Brindisi, supporting Italian forces in the Adriatic Sea. Dartmouth's speed had been reduced to 21 knots by the boiler explosion and further boiler problems had reduced her speed. As a result, she went to Malta for a refit on 30/6/1915.
He was posted to HMS Vivid II (accounts base for Stokers) whilst awaiting a ship from 1/7/1915 – 13/9/1915. Posted to H.M.S. Liverpool (town class light cruiser) serving on her from 14/9/1915 – 28/3/1919 as the Chief Stoker Petty Officer. She was ported in Brindisi, which functioned as a naval base for Allied warships operating in the Adriatic against Austria-Hungary. She was transferred to the Aegean Squadron in January 1918. He was pensioned to shore on 3/1/1922 and died in Swindon in 1936.
