British War, Victory Medal & Imperial Service Medal - CECIL MARTIN DARVILL – ‘STOKER’ in the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force & Air Ministry + original service records - Served on HMS SPORTIVE in BLACK SEA operations, including EVACUATION FROM ODESSA 1920

Stock Reference – MM-MED-0069

British War Medal, Victory Medal, Imperial Service Medal group - awarded to CECIL MARTIN DARVILL – Long-service career as ‘STOKER’ with the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force & Air Ministry (RAF) - complete with original service records + other documentation – Served on HMS SPORTIVE during BLACK SEA operations, including the EVACUATION FROM ODESSA 1920

You are looking at an interesting WW1 medal pair, British War Medal and Victory Medal, and a post-1952 (Queen ELIZABETH II) Imperial Service Medal awarded to CECIL MARTIN DARVILL, who served as a ‘stoker’ with the Royal Navy from the end of WW1 and was a crewmember aboard ‘HMS Sportive’ during the Black Sea operations of 1919/20, including the ship’s involvement in the evacuation of Russian civilians and troops from Odessa.....CECIL went on to serve as a ‘stoker’ in the Royal Air Force and continued his employment as a ‘stoker’ in civilian life, working with the Air Ministry’s Works and Buildings Department, later the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works, at the same RAF station he was employed at previously, and for this service he received the Imperial Service Medal.....These 3 x medals are accompanied by CECIL’S original Royal Navy and Royal Air Force service records, and other associated documents.

This listing is made up of the following items:

British War Medal – ‘S.S.118479 C.M.DARVILL. STO.2 R.N.’

Victory Medal -  S.S.118479 C.M.DARVILL. ACT. STO.1. R.N.’ - *****NOTE – Different inscription to the BWM*****

Imperial Service Medal (Queen ELIZABETH II) – ‘CECIL MARTIN DARVILL’......In original box of issue

Royal Navy document – ‘Certificate of the Service of CECIL MARTIN DARVILL in the Royal Navy’

Royal Navy document - ‘Qualifications in Stoker Ratings’ in the name CECIL M DARVILL

Royal Air Force document – ‘Certificate of the Service and Discharge of CECIL MARTIN DARVILL

Royal Air Force document – ‘Royal Air Force – Statement on Discharge of an Airman’s Qualifications and Employment’ for CECIL MARTIN DARVILL- Dated 9^th September 1927.

Document – ‘Notification of Selection for Established Appointment for Power House Duties’ addressed to LAC 357598 DARVILL – Dated 24^th June 1927.

Document – Letter to LAC 357598 DARVILL accompanying his RAF Certificate of Service and Qualification Sheet – Dated 10^th of September 1927.

Document – Letter addressed to C M DARVILL confirming his appointment as ‘Established Stoker’ from the 26^th of August 1927 – Dated 15^th December 1928.

Blue ‘Certificate of Service and Discharge – Royal Air Force’ envelope addressed to Mr C.M.DARVILL, 4 The Crescent, West Mill. Hitchen, Hertfordshire – Stamped and dated 1928

This is an unusual but interesting group which combines post-WW1 Royal Navy service during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, followed by RAF service, then a long civilian career with the Air Ministry.....Of particular interest is CECIL'S documented service aboard HMS Sportive between February 1919 and June 1920, a period which included the ship's involvement in Black Sea operations and her involvement in the dramatic evacuation from Odessa in February 1920. Original service and other documentation is included, allowing CECIL’S career to be followed from the Royal Navy through to his eventual award of the Imperial Service Medal.

CECIL MARTIN DARVILL, the son of JOSEPH and PALATIA DARVILL, was born at Barnet in Hertfordshire on the 2^nd of June 1900.

His brother CHARLES JOSEPH DARVILL was killed in action on the 14^th of September 1914, whilst serving in France with the 1^st Battalion the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.........He was one of those early soldiers to be killed, the first known British soldiers KIA having died on the 21^st and 22^nd of August, less than 4 x weeks earlier.

ROYAL NAVY 

CECIL joined the Royal Navy on the 7^th of June 1918 and was in shore based training on HMS Pembroke until Armistice in the November of that year.

From the 22^nd of February 1919 to the 17^th of June 1920, he served aboard the destroyer  ‘HMS Sportive’, that saw service with the 14^th Destroyer Flotilla, followed by the 4^th Destroyer Flotilla who set sail for the Mediterranean in March 1919 and was involved in allied operations in the Black Sea during the Russian Civil War, at the end of that year and into 1920.

During the Russian Civil War (1917-1922), and following the Red Army and Bolsheviks overthrowing of the existing Russian Government in the October Revolution, fighting continued to take place between the communist forces and those in opposition to them, including the White Russians as they were known, but at the end of 1919, and following a series of military defeats and with the Red Army advancing, some of the opposing forces, White Russian Troops, their families and others fearing for their safety, started making their way towards Odessa, and in the February of 1920, with the refugee crisis worsening, Royal Navy and other allied warships made their way to the city where they were to assist with the evacuation.     

HMS Sportive was one of a small fleet of warships and other seagoing vessels who were involved in the evacuation of refugees from Odessa. The other British warships were HMS Ajax, HMS Emperor of India, HMS Cardiff and HMS Ceres, and there were 2 x transport ships, HMT Rio Negro and Rio Pardo. On the 6^th of February, HMS Sportive fired its guns at the approaching Russian / Bolshevik cavalry, and the following day, the 7^th of February, along with HMS Ceres, it was in Odessa harbour itself, actively involved in evacuating civilians and soldiers from the quayside / dock area, who they then transported to Constantinople, before returning to Odessa on a second occasion to assist in the evacuation of even more refugees.......In fact HMS Sportive alone rescued around 1,500 individuals who, upon fleeing the conflict area, had to endure the cramped and freezing conditions aboard ship on their journey from Odessa to Constantinople.   

CECIL left the Royal Navy on the 9^th of June 1922, and just over a year later, on the 8th of August 1923, he married FLORENCE WINIFRED LEWIS.

Because CECIL enlisted late in WW1, he was still in training when the war came to an end in the November of 1918. His subsequent service aboard HMS Sportive, however, took him into the Black Sea during the allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, where it was involved in operations in that area, including, in 1920, action against elements of the Red Army and the evacuation of refugees from Odessa, service for which those involved were entitled to the award of the Victory Medal.

Unfortunately, the surviving records do not state the precise operation for which the Victory Medal awarded to CECIL was authorised, but the British Government extended the criteria for the award of the medal to include the 1919-20 operations in the Black Sea, and CECIL served aboard HMS Sportive from February 1919 to June 1920, and was involved in the Black Sea operations and the Odessa evacuation, and his original Royal Navy medal record shows the award of both the British War Medal and Victory Medal to him, the Victory Medal issued at a later date, via the Air Ministry, after he had left the Royal Navy and joined the RAF..........And the fact that the medals were awarded on two separate occasions explains why the medals are inscribed differently, with the BWM inscribed ‘STO.2 R.N.’, the rank he held at the time this award was authorised, and the Victory Medal inscribed ‘ACT. STO.1. R.N.’, the rank he held at the time the later issue of the VM would have been authorised.

ROYAL AIR FORCE

On the 8^th of February 1924, CECIL enlisted into the Royal Air Force, as a ‘stoker’, and, as best as can be established / deciphered from the handwritten record of service, he appears to have been based at the Electrical Services Works Company, followed by Training Squadron (Uxbridge), then 1 Aircraft Assembly Depot & Repair Depot, later amalgamated into the Home Aircraft Depot (Henlow).

He was transferred to the RAF Reserve on the 26^th of August 1927, with the document relating to his qualifications and employment with the RAF, detailing how he had been employed for 3 ½ years in Power Station work as a ‘stoker’.

CIVILIAN EMPLOYMENT

It appears from the documentation included in this listing, that prior to CECIL leaving the RAF and transferring to the Reserve, he was applying for employment as a civilian ‘stoker’ within the Air Ministry, and his employment as an ‘Established Stoker’ was confirmed with effect from the 26^th of August 1927, with his place of work in the first instance being Henlow.

CECIL effectively left the RAF on the 26^th of August 1927, having served as a ‘stoker’ within the Power Station area/section, at Henlow, and he commenced his employment as an ‘Established Stoker’, at Henlow, that same day.

His appointment as a ‘Stoker’ in the Air Ministry Works and Buildings Department was recorded in the London Gazette dated the 3^rd of August 1928 and the Edinburgh Gazette dated 10^th of August.

CECIL remained with the Air Ministry Works Department until 1963 when the department was transferred to the newly created ‘Ministry of Public Building and Works’, and it was whilst he was with this new department, in 1966 (possibly 1965), and whilst he was a Foreman Fitter and retiring, that he was awarded the ‘Imperial Service Medal’, with the notification of his award appearing in the London Gazette on the 15^th of March 1966........He had served for nearly 40 x years in his civilian role.

SELLER NOTE = Supporting documentation obtained and / or created during this research will be provided.