Two medals to John Augustus Hugh Boyd

Two medals to John Augustus Hugh Boyd, Mate (later Lieutenant), Royal Navy: Naval General Service Medal 1793-1840, clasp: Syria (JOHN A.H. BOYD, MATE.), buckle type ribbon brooch by E& E Emanuel, The Hard, Portsea, very fine; Turkish St Jean D'Acre medal, silvered-copper, near very fine. [2]

The recipient entered the Navy in 1832, passing his examination 12th June 1839, and serving as Mate on the Mediterranean station, including in HMS Castor under Captain Edward Collier. He served with shore parties during the actions on the coast of Syria in 1840, and a "..Boyd, mate..." is mentioned in a letter of Captain Collier as having taken part in the fixing of an Ottoman flag to the ramparts of Caiffa following a bombardment. A Lieutenant from 28th May 1845, he subsequently served in the Coast Guard, and in 1847 Lloyds recorded his "gallantry....in saving the lives of the Master and Crew of the Eliza Liddle". Brig Eliza Liddle was taking coal from Cardiff to London when she was driven on shore and wrecked at Mothecombe, Devon, November 1847.

Sources: O'Byrne's Naval Biographical Dictionary; The London Gazette, 1840 p. 2601; "Diary of a Salcombe Lady", Salcome Gazette, 1927 (reproduced at www.salcombemuseum.org.uk)