Offered is a 1914 -15 Star, impressed named K.5163. W.J. JAMES. S.P.O..R.N.; British War and Victory Medals (1914 – 18), impressed named K.5163 W.J. JAMES. S.P.O. R.N.; royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (G.V.), impressed named K.5163 W.J. JAMES. S.P.O. H.M.S. CORMORANT. Court mounted for display it comes with copies of service records and medal roll.

Stoker Petty Officer William John James was born on 21/9/1889 at Brixham, Devon, a timber cutter by trade he enlisted as a Stoker 2nd Class on 5/1/1910. After initial training at Vivid II he served on the Carnarvon, Indefatigable, Indus (mechanics' training establishment and workshops at Devonport).

At the outbreak of the war, he was posted to H.M.S Vivid II, 30/5/1914 – 21/10/1914. He was posted to the H.M.S. Tiger as a Leading Stoker 22/10/1914 – 30/9/1921, being promoted to Stoker Petty Officer 20/5/1915.

He was on the Tiger during the Battle of Dogger Bank on 24/1/1915. The Tigers gunnery skills were poor, achieving only two hits out of some 355 13.5-inch shells fired scoring a hit each on Seydlitz and Derfflinger. Lord Fisher criticised the ships performance saying "The Tiger's gunnery seems to have been villainously bad on January 24, yet she seems to have had a lot of practice. (The Tiger had only just been commissioned on 3/10/1914). In return she was hit by six German shells, the most significant of which was a 11 in shell that burst on the roof of 'Q' turret. Although most of the shell was deflected overboard, fragments penetrated the roof, damaged the left gun's breech mechanism and jammed the training gear, knocking the turret out of action. Ten men were killed during the battle and 11 wounded. Tiger's repairs were completed on 8 February.

During the Battle of Jutland, 31/5/1916, Tiger was part of the 1st BCS had put to sea with the rest of the Battlecruiser Fleet. At a range of 18,000 yards the Germans opened fire first, followed by the British. The 1st BCS was echeloned to the right with Tiger in the rear and the furthest to the west, closest to the Germans. The German fire was accurate from the start, with Tiger hit six times by Moltke within the first seven minutes; although two of these hits temporarily disabled both 'Q' and 'X' turrets, she was not seriously damaged. Indefatigable was hit around the rear turret by two or three shells from Von der Tann. She fell out of formation to starboard and started sinking toward the stern and listing to port. Her magazines exploded after more hits destroying the ship with the loss of all hands but three. The Queen Mary was hit multiple times in quick succession and her forward magazines exploded, Tiger, following in Queen Mary's wake at only 500 yards, had to put her helm hard-a-starboard to avoid colliding with the wreckage. During the action Tiger had been hit a total of 17/18 times suffering 24 men killed and 46 wounded, but she remained fit to fight. Tiger fired 303 shells from her main guns during the battle and is credited with one hit on Moltke and two on Von der Tann. The ship also fired 136 rounds from her 6-inch guns at the light cruiser Wiesbaden and German destroyers.

Post war he served on the following H.M. Ships and shore bases: Vivid II, Searcher, Tourmaline, Egmont (Malta), vivid IV, Malaya and pensioned to shore on 4/6/1932 after 22 years’ service.

Recalled for WW2 on 25/8/1939, his service records as incomplete in that they fail to show ships served on as is common for these records. H.M.S. Drake II was the Shore barracks at Devonport. He was released from service in August 1945.