Great War 1914-1915 Star trio awarded to Leading Stoker J. Dolman, Royal Navy who would spend time in the Mediterranean and Aegean with H.M.S. Duncan and later aboard the Hunt Class Minesweeper H.M.S. Quorn.
Group of 3: 1914-1915 Star; (S.S. 106647 J. DOLMAN. STO.1. R.N.) British War Medal and Victory Medal; (S.S.106647 J. DOLMAN. L.STO. R.N.)
Condition: Good Very Fine
James Dolman was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 27th April 1884, and giving his trade as plate layer joined on 10th February 1908 for 5 years. Initially serving as a Stoker 2nd Class with the destroyer H.M.S. Acheron. He would transfer to Pathfinder on 6th August 1908 and would be advanced to Stoker 1st Class on 10th February 1909. He would serve ashore from 17th January until 23rd February 1911 before joining HMS Actaeon with which he would remain until 15th December 1912. Once more returning ashore he would be transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve on 9th February 1913.
Recalled on the outbreak of war he would serve aboard Mars from 2nd August 1914 until 20th February 1915 when she was decommissioned and disarmed in Belfast. A short period ashore followed until a posting to Duncan on 20th July 1915 where he would remain until 10th April 1917.
Duncan was recommissioned at Chatham on 19 July 1915 and was attached to the 9th Cruiser Squadron on the Finisterre-Azores-Madeira Station. In August 1915, Duncan transferred to the 2nd Detached Squadron in the Adriatic Sea. The squadron had been organized in May 1915 to reinforce the Italian Navy against the Austro-Hungarian Navy after Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary. Duncan was based at Taranto, Italy, during this service. Admiral Paolo Thaon di Revel, the Italian naval chief of staff, believed that the threat from Austro-Hungarian submarines and naval mines in the narrow waters of the Adriatic was too serious for him to use the fleet for active operations. Instead, Revel decided to implement a blockade at the relatively safer southern end of the Adriatic with the main fleet, while smaller vessels, such as the MAS boats, conducted raids on Austro-Hungarian ships and installations.
In June 1916, Duncan transferred to the 3rd Detached Squadron in the Aegean Sea, based at Salonika. At the time, Greece was ruled by the pro-German Constantine I, who had decided to remain neutral. The Entente powers had landed troops in Salonika in 1915, which was a source of tension between France and Greece. The issue came to a head in August 1916 when a pro-Entente group launched a coup against the monarchy in the Noemvriana. Starting in December 1916, she participated in operations against the Greek royalists, beginning with the landing of Royal Marines at Athens on 1 December 1916 to coerce Constantine to abdicate. The British and French troops were defeated by the Greek Army and armed civilians and were forced to withdraw to their ships, after which the British and French fleet imposed a blockade of the royalist-controlled parts of the country. She returned to the Adriatic Squadron in January 1917. In February, Duncan returned to the United Kingdom and paid off at Sheerness to provide crews for antisubmarine vessels. She was in reserve at Sheerness until April, when she moved to Chatham for a refit.
Promoted Leading Stoker whilst ashore on 14th July 1917, he would be posted to the Hunt Class Minesweeper HMS Quorn on 25th September 1917 and would see out the war there.
He would be demobilised on 26th February 1919.
