The good Boer War, Somaliland 1902-04 operations against the Mad Mullah, Great War and Navy Long Service Group awarded to Stoker, later Chief Stoker W.J. Grant, Royal Navy who saw service with H.M.S. Naiad during the Boer War and later in the operations on and off the coast of Somaliland against the Mad Mullah, Muhammed bin Abdullah in the period from 18th January to 11th May 1904. Having completed his first period of service on 13th October 1910, he would rejoin the Royal Navy on 17th December 1910 and would go on to serve aboard H.M.S. Hindustan during the blockade against Montenegro and later during the Great War where he saw service in home waters and in the North Sea. He was awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal whilst serving aboard H.M.S. Hindustan on 5th January 1914. Grant died of Pneumonia in Malta Hospital on 19th March 1919 and is now buried in Malta (Capuccini) Cemetery.
Group of 6: Queen’s South Africa Medal 1899-1902, no clasp; (W.J. GRANT. STO. H.M.S. NAIAD.) Africa General Service Medal 1899-1956, EVII bust, 1 Clasp: Somaliland 1902-04; (W.J. GRANT. STO. H.M.S. NAIAD.) 1914-1915 Star; (290035 W.J. GRANT. CH. STO. R.N.) British War Medal and Victory Medal; (290035 W.J. GRANT. CH. STO. R.N.) Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, GVR bust; (290035 W.J. GRANT. STO. P.O. H.M.S. HINDUSTAN.)
Condition: minor edge-bruising and contact wear to the first two, Very Fine to Good Very Fine
William John Grant was born in Dorchester, Dorset and giving his trade as a Bricklayer joined for 12 years service on 13th September 1898. Initially serving as a Stoker 2nd Class, he would serve aboard the Duke of Wellington from 1st April 1899 and 12th October 1899, before transferring to Rodney, where he would be promoted to Stoker on 1st December 1899. He would see service aboard H.M.S. Naiad from 19th March 1901 until 2nd August 1904, where he would see service during the Boer War and would become 1 of 133 men of the ship to be awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal without clasp. He would subsequently serve aboard Naiad in the operations on and off the coast of Somaliland in the campaign against the Mad Mullah, Muhammed bin Abdullah in the period from 18th January 1902 to 11th May 1904, some 285 of the crew of Naiad qualified for the Africa General Service Medal 1899-1956 with clasp for Somaliland 1902-04.
Subsequently promoted to Leading Stoker aboard H.M.S. Patrol on 23rd April 1906, he would later be discharged on 13th October 1910 joining the Royal Fleet Reserve the following day.
On 17th December 1910 he would rejoin the Royal Navy to complete his service being noted as a Stoker Petty Officer with Victory II on 1st January 1911.
Grant would join Hindustan on 2nd April 1912, and would be awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 5th January 1914, before being appointed Acting Chief Stoker on 24th April 1914 and Chief Stoker on 24th April 1915, he would leave the ship on 31st March 1917.
Under a fleet reorganization in May 1912, Hindustan and all seven of her sisters (Africa, Britannia, Commonwealth, Dominion, Hibernia, King Edward VII and Zealandia were assigned to form the 3rd Battle Squadron, assigned to the First Fleet, Home Fleet. The squadron was detached to the Mediterranean in November because of the First Balkan War (October 1912 – May 1913); it arrived at Malta on 27 November and subsequently participated in a blockade by an international force of Montenegro and in an occupation of Scutari. Hindustan and Africa returned to the United Kingdom in February 1913 and rejoined the Home Fleet; they were attached to the 4th Battle Squadron, then transferred back to the 3rd Battle Squadron upon that squadron's return to the United Kingdom and the Home Fleet on 27 June 1913.
Upon the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the 3rd Battle Squadron, at the time under the command of Vice Admiral Edward Bradford, was assigned to the Grand Fleet and based at Rosyth, where it was reinforced with the five Duncan-class battleships, It was used to supplement the Grand Fleet's cruisers on the Northern Patrol. On 6 August, the day after Britain declared war on Germany, elements of the Grand Fleet sortied to inspect the coast of Norway in search of a German naval base violating Norwegian neutrality. Hindustan and the rest of the 3rd Battle Squadron provided distant support to the operation. No such base was found, and the ships returned to port the next day. On 14 August, the ships of the Grand Fleet went to sea for battle practice before conducting a sweep into the North Sea later that day and into 15 August. During sweeps by the fleet, she and her sisters often steamed at the heads of divisions of the far more valuable dreadnoughts, where they could protect the dreadnoughts by watching for mines or by being the first to strike them. On 2 November 1914, the squadron was detached to reinforce the Channel Fleet and was rebased at Portland. It returned to the Grand Fleet on 13 November 1914.
On 14 December, the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, 2nd Battle Squadron, and accompanying cruisers and destroyers left port to intercept the German forces preparing to raid Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby. On the first reports of contact with German units on the morning of 16 December, the Grand Fleet commander, Admiral John Jellicoe, ordered Bradford to take the 3rd Battle Squadron to support the ships in contact at 10:00. Four hours later, they met the 1st and 4th Battle Squadrons, en route from Scapa Flow, though they failed to reach the German High Seas Fleet before the latter withdrew. The Grand Fleet remained at sea until late on 17 December, at which point the 3rd Battle Squadron was ordered back to Rosyth. Hindustan and the rest of the squadron joined the Grand Fleet for another sweep into the North Sea on 25 December. The fleet returned to its ports two days later, having failed to locate any German vessels.
The 3rd Battle Squadron went to sea on 12 January 1915 for gunnery training, steaming north and passing to the west of Orkney on the night of 13–14 January. After completing training on the 14th, they returned to Rosyth on 15 January. On 23 January, the 1st and 2nd Battlecruiser Squadrons sortied to ambush the German I Scouting Group in what resulted in the Battle of Dogger Bank the following day. Later on the 23rd, the rest of the Grand Fleet, including Hindustan, sortied to support the battlecruisers. The 3rd Squadron ships left first and steamed at full speed to reach ships of the Harwich Force, which had reported contact with German vessels. The battlecruisers intervened first, and Hindustan and her sisters arrived around 14:00, by which time the battlecruisers had sunk the armoured cruiser Blücher and the surviving German ships had fled. The 3rd Battle Squadron patrolled the area with the rest of the Grand Fleet over the night before being detached at 08:00 on 25 January to steam to Rosyth.
Elements of the Grand Fleet went to sea repeatedly over the next few months. The 3rd Battle Squadron patrolled the central North Sea in company with the 3rd Cruiser Squadron from 10 to 13 March. The two units again went to sea to sweep the central North Sea from 5 to 8 April. A major fleet operation followed on 11 April, with the entire Grand Fleet sortieing for a sweep of the North Sea on 12 and 13 April. The squadrons returned to their ports on 14 April to replenish their fuel. Another such operation followed on 17 April, which also failed to find any German ships. The 3rd Battle Squadron returned to Rosyth late on 18 April. The fleet sortied again on 21 April, returning to port two days later. The 3rd Battle Squadron, joined by the 3rd Cruiser Squadron, patrolled the northern North Sea from 5 to 10 May, during which a German U-boat attacked the battleships but failed to score a hit.
Another sweep into the North Sea took place on 17–19 May, and no German forces were encountered. The fleet went to sea again on 29 May for a patrol south to the Dogger Bank before returning to port on 31 May, again without having located any German vessels. The Grand Fleet spent much of June in port conducting training, but the most modern units went to sea on 11 June for gunnery practice to the northwest of Shetland. While they were training, Hindustan and the rest of the 3rd Battle Squadron, along with the 3rd Cruiser Squadron, patrolled the central North Sea. Fleet activities were limited in July, owing to a threatened strike by coal miners, which began on 18 July and threatened the supply of coal for the fleet's ships. The strike continued into August, which led Jellicoe to continue to limit fleet activities to preserve his stocks of coal. The fleet saw little activity in September, and during this period, the Grand Fleet began to go to sea without the older ships of the 3rd Battle Squadron.
On 29 April 1916, the 3rd Battle Squadron was rebased at Sheerness, and on 3 May 1916 it was separated from the Grand Fleet, being transferred to the Nore Command.
After a short period ashore from 1st April 1917 until 13th May 1917 when he would once more return to Hindustan, remaining aboard until 1st March 1918.
He died on 19th March 1919 of Pneumonia in Malta Hospital whilst serving aboard H.M.S. Gilia, and is now buried in Malta (Capucinni) Naval Cemetery. He is noted as the son of Frances Mary Grant of 17 Love Lane, Weymouth.
