Battle of Jutland veteran’s Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, GVR Adm. bust, awarded to Petty Officer J.W. Hurt, Royal Navy. From Derby, he saw service from August 1895 and trained in the seaman gunnery branch, being award his long service medal in 1913 whilst aboard the early seaplane tender Hermes. With the Great War he initially saw service aboard he battleship Implacable with the Channel Fleet, and then with the battleship Duncan on the Northern Patrol before serving with the light cruiser Champion at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May-1 June 1916, during which she also was the flagship of Commodore (D), the senior commander of the fleet's destroyers. Bye ended the war in the Aegean Sea with the depot ship Theseus and during 1919 to 1920 served with her in the Black Sea when in support of the operations in relation to the Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War.
Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, GVR Adm. bust; (185230 J.W. HURT, P.O. H.M.S. HERMES:)
Condition: Nearly Extremely Fine.
James Watson Hurt was born on 21 August 1880 in Derby, Derbyshire, and having worked as a boot riveter, joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class (Chatham No.185230) with Impregnable on 24 August 1895, being rated as a Boy 1st Class on 8 October 1896. He went on to train as a seaman gunner, and was rated as an Ordinary Seaman on 21 August 1898 and then as an Able Seaman on 18 April 1900, both whilst aboard the battleship Victorious. He was serving aboard the cruiser Scylla when he was made a Leading Seaman on 1 October 1905, and was promoted to Petty Officer whilst with Pembroke I on 1 May 1913, being awarded the Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in that year whilst serving aboard the cruiser and recently converted seaplane tender, Hermes.
With the outbreak of the Great War he was aboard the battleship Implacable, and initially saw service with the 5th Battle Squadron which was initially assigned to the Channel Fleet and based at Portland. He then transferred to battleship Duncan from 1 September 1914 and saw service with her on the Northern Patrol before being posted back to Pembroke I on 1 February 1915. He joined the light cruiser Champion from 8 December 1915, as a part of her first crew on commissioning. She was assigned to the Grand Fleet upon completion, serving as the leader of the 13th Destroyer Flotilla. As such Hurt was aboard her when she fought in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May-1 June 1916, during which she also was the flagship of Commodore (D), the senior commander of the fleet's destroyers.
Hurt was posted back to Pembroke I from 15 June 1917 and then joined the cruiser Theseus from 18 October 1917, in a period when she served as a depot ship in the. With the end of the Great War he then sailed with Theseus into the Black Sea to support operations in relation to the Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War. Hurt was posted home with her and then back to Pembroke I on 11 February 1920, he being pensioned ashore on 18 September 1920. Additionally entitled to the 1914-1915 trio.
