Beschreibung:

A fine Life-Saving group of five awarded to Captain G. Davies, Royal Navy, later Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire, for his outstanding gallantry and service spanning over 38 years with the Royal Navy and H.M. Coastguard Royal National Institute for the Preservation of Life From Shipwreck Medal, silver, type 1 1824-62, obverse: head of King George IV facing left (Lieut. Geo. Davees [sic] R.N. Voted 17 Apr. 1839), engraved in upright serif capitals, with integral band, eyelet suspension, and riband ring; Royal National Institute for the Preservation of Life From Shipwreck Medal, silver, type 1 1824-62, obverse: head of King George IV facing left (Lieut. Geoe. Davies R.N. Voted Dec 17 1840), engraved in upright serif capitals, with integral band, eyelet suspension, and riband ring; Lloyd's [of London] Large Silver Medal for Life-Saving, 73mm, set in a contemporary silvered frame, the rim engraved 'To Captain George Davies. Royal Navy.', with lunettes, these loose; France, Kingdom, July Monarchy 1830-48, Ministry of the Merchant Marine and Colonies Life Saving Medal, 1st 'large' type, with wreath, 41mm, gilt, reverse embossed 'A Davies (Georges) Lieutenant de la Marine Anglaise,1835', pierced as issued and subsequently plugged; France, Kingdom, July Monarchy 1830-48, Ministry of the Merchant Marine and Colonies Life Saving Medal, 2nd 'small' type, with wreath, 37mm, gilt, reverse embossed 'A Davies Lieutenant de la Marine Royale Anglaise, 1839', pierced as issued and subsequently plugged, generally very fine, an extremely rare combination (5) £1600-2000 Footnote Provenance: J. B. Hayward R.N.L.I. Collection, November 1995. George Davies was born in Wells, Somerset, in December 1800, and entered the Royal Navy as a 1st Class Volunteer in June 1813, serving in H.M.S. Ajax (74 guns). In that ship he assisted, while at the siege of St. Sebastian, in taking the island of Santa Clara, and was present, as a Midshipman, at the blockade of Rochefort and of Toulon, the surrender of Marseilles, and the capture of a vast number of the enemy's armed and other vessels. Joining next the Queen Charlotte (100 guns), he took part in the bombardment of Algiers, 27 August 1816, and on that occasion he particularly attracted the notice of his Commander-in-Chief, whose orders he was throughout the action employed in conveying to the different ships of the fleet. The boat he commanded was frequently under the necessity of being partially re-manned, in consequence of the great loss of her crew killed and wounded. In 1817 he proceeded to St. Helena in H.M.S. Sappho (18 guns) to guard the exiled Emperor Napoleon, before transferring to the Seringapatam, in the boats of which he assisted in the capture and destruction of various pirate vessels in the West Indies. Subsequently serving in H.M.S. Naiad (46 guns) in the Mediterranean, he contributed to the defeat of the Algerine corvette Tripoli (18 guns), 31 January 1824, and also to the destruction of a 16-gun brig moored alongside the walls of the fortress of Bona, in which there was a garrison of about 400 soldiers, who kept a tremendous fire onto the deck, 23 May 1824; afterwards, in charge of the ship's barge, he brought out a piratical mistico from the island of Hydra. Re-joining the Seringapatam, he frequently landed, at the head of a division of Seamen, in order to co-operate with the marines of both the Seringapatam and Revenge in hostilities against the pirates of other Greek settlements in the Archipelago. Promoted for his gallantry at Bona to Lieutenant in June 1826, he returned to England, and was appointed to the Coastguard in July 1832. Later that year he was awarded his first R.N.I.P.L.S. Silver Medal for the rescue of the sole survivor of the sloop Dartmouth, wrecked at Rye, Sussex, the citation reading: '11th November 1832: The sloop Dartmouth was wrecked at Camber, near Rye, Sussex, and her Master and five others were drowned. Lieutenant Davies and six other men put off in a fishing vessel