Great War Dardanelles, Suez Canal and Red Sea Patrol operations and Second World War Home Service and long service group awarded to Private R.E. Tyler, Royal Marine Light Infantry later Royal Marines. Tyler from Fulham, London, and latterly Tiptree, Essex, saw service mostly with the Chatham Division. During the Great War he was variously aboard the battleship Vengeance, the battleship Jupiter, and the cruiser Bacchante. Through the majority of the 1920’s he found himself employed as a Cook to the Officers Mess for the Royal Marines Depot at Chatham and at Deal, and received his long service medal in September 1923. Recalled for the Second World War, he was employed for a period as an Attendant to the Sergeant’s Mess at Chatham/Deal.
Group of 6: 1914-1915 Star; (CH.16592, PTE. R.E. TYLER, R.M.L.I.); British War Medal and Victory Medal; (CH.16592. PTE. R.E. TYLER. R.M.L.I.); Defence Medal; War Medal 1939-1945; Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, GVR Adm. bust; (CH.16592. R.E. TYLER. MNE. R.M.)
Condition: Good Very Fine.
Robert Ernest Tyler was born on 18 July 1890 in Fulham, London, and having worked as a butcher’s assistant, then enlisted into the Royal Marine Light Infantry at London on 18 October 1907, joining as a Private (No.16592) the Chatham Division and being sent to the Recruit Depot at Deal. He was however initially sent to the Plymouth Division on completion of his training in September 1908, and had seen service aboard the cruiser Medea between April 1909 and May 1911, but then transferred to the Chatham Division on 16 May 1911. He then saw service with “G” Company.
With the outbreak of the Great War he was with the battleship Vengeance, and he would remain with her until July 1915. Initially this vessel patrolled the English Channel as a part of the 8th Battle Squadron before moving to Alexandria to protect the Suez Canal in November 1914. She then joined the Dardanelles Campaign in January 1915, where she saw extensive action trying to force the Dardanelles strait in February and March and later supporting the fighting ashore during the Gallipoli Campaign in April and May. Worn out from these operations, she returned to Britain for a refit at which time Tyler was discharged from her and returned to Chatham.
Tyler was next posted aboard the battleship Jupiter from 12 August 1915, and once again returned to the Mediterranean, she being employed on the Suez Canal Patrol, and from October 1915 when she transferred to the Red Sea, guard ship at Aden and flagship of the Senior Naval Officer, Red Sea Patrol. She was relieved of flagship duty on 9 December 1915 and returned to the Suez Canal Patrol for Mediterranean service. This lasted from April to November 1916, with a home port in Port Said, Egypt. Tyler was paid off Jupiter when she returned home in December 1916. His next posting was to the cruiser Bacchante which he joined from 15 February 1917, and he remained with her for the rest of the war. This vessel became the flagship of the 8th Cruiser Squadron on convoy escort duties off the African coast from mid-1917 for the rest of the war. Tyler left her in January 1919.
Tyler was then employed continuously ashore with the Chatham Division between August 1919 and April 1926, when with the depot there. From December 1921 he was the Assistant Cook to the Officers Mess for the Royal Marines Depot, becoming the Cook to the R.M. Officers Mess at Deal from December 1922 onwards until being appointed Cook to the same back at Chatham from December 1923. Between March 1925 and November 1927 he was then employed as an attendant to a Captain Weir, before being appointed as Cook at the Officers Mess at Deal from January 1928. Tyler who had transitioned from the Royal Marine Light Infantry into the Royal Marines on its formation in 1922, had been awarded the Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 30 September 1923. Tyler was discharged on the termination of his second period of engagement on 17 July 1929, and was then enrolled into the Royal Fleet Reserve.
With the outbreak of the Second World War he was mobilised on 24 September 1939, and was then employed as an attendant to the Sergeants Mess at Chatham/Deal from 1 February 1940 before being discharged again on 31 December 1941. He died on 13 February 1967 in Tiptree, Essex.
