The superb Royal Navy Prize Firing ‘Blue Jacket’, Naval Brigade Relief of Ladysmith, Boxer Rebellion and Great War Group awarded to Able Seaman, later Petty Officer H. Funnell, Royal Navy who saw Boer War service as part of the Naval Brigade with H.M.S. Terrible and was present under Captain E.P. Jones with the naval guns from Terrible involved in the relief of Ladysmith operations from 15th December 1899, being present in the battle of the Tugela Heights from 14th to 27th February 1900 and at the Relief of Ladysmith on 28th February 1900, he would also be present with H.M.S. Terrible during the Boxer Rebellion. Funnell was still serving during the Great War where he spent the majority of the conflict aboard the flag ship H.M.S. Iron Duke including at the Battle of Jutland where Iron Duke would make at least seven hits on SMS Konig, and most likely sunk the German Destroyer SMS S35. Fennell would survive the Boer War and be pensioned ashore on 16th January 1920.
Group of 6: Queen’s South Africa Medal 1899-1902, 2 Clasps: Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith; (195539 A-B. H. FUNNELL. H.M.S. TERRIBLE.) China Medal 1900, no clasp; (H. FUNNELL. A.B. H.M.S. TERRIBLE.) 1914-1915 Stsr; (195539 H. FUNNELL. A.B. R.N.) British War Medal and Victory Medal; (195539 H. FUNNELL. P.O. R.N.) Royal Navy Prize Firing ‘Blue Jacket’ Medal for Good Shooting in the British Fleet, Bronze award, engraved on the rim; (H. FUNNELL. A.B. H.M.S. “TERRIBLE” PRIZE CREW 1900); this together with second award ‘Prize Crew’ bar and top bar engraved: ‘H.M.S Terrible. Year 1900’;
Condition: contact wear to first two, small edge-bruise to QSA at 2 o’clock, Very Fine
Along with Relief of Ladysmith Feb 28, 1900 cap/hat tally.
Henry Funnell was born in Rype, Sussex on 25th November 1879 and giving his trade as labourer joined the Royal Navy on 23rd August 1917 as a Boy 2nd Class, serving aboard Northampton, and being advanced to Boy 1st Class on 23rd November 1897. He would transfer to Calliope on 15th January 1898, before being appointed an Ordinary Seaman on 23rd February 1898. Posted back ashore on 21st April 1898 he would then join Volage on 1st June 1898, where he remained until joining HMS Terrible on 1st November 1898. Whilst aboard Terrible he would present in South Africa during the Boer War where he saw service ashore with the Naval Brigade commanded by Captain E.P. Jones, Funnell was present with the naval guns from Terrible involved in the relief of Ladysmith operations from 15th December 1899, being present in the battle of the Tugela Heights from 14th to 27th February 1900, and at the relief of Ladysmith on 28th February 1900, before being appointed an Able Seaman on the 18th March 1900.
Having re-embarked aboard Terrible, the ship proceeded to China and operated on and off the coast of China during the Boxer Rebellion. Funnell being posted to the Duke of Wellington on 25th February 1902, he would remain aboard until 17th January 1903. He would subsequently serve aboard Excellent from 18th January to 20th June 1903, Agincourt from 1st July 1903 to 30h September 1903, Boscawen from 1st October 1903 to 31st December 1903, King Edward VII from 1st January 1903 to 5th February 1905, then be posted to Victory I from 6th February 1905 to 4th March 1907, Excellent from 5th March to 12th July 1907, Crescent from 23rd July 1907 to 13th May 1908. Orion I from 1st June 1908 to 20th December 1909, Crescent from 21st December 1909 to 16th May 1910, Victory I from 10th June 1910 to 21st August 1910, Ariadne from 1st September 1910 to 15th February 1911, Excellent from 16th February 1911 to 23rd December 1912, Revenge from 24th December 1912 to 3rd May 1913, Victory I from 15th May to 5th July 1913, Dryad from 6th July 1913 to 7th March 1914, Victory I from 8-9th March 1914.
He would then be posted to Iron Duke with whom he served with until 8th February 1918, being appointed a Petty Officer on 1st August 1916. On 29 July 1914, as war loomed on the Continent, Iron Duke and the rest of the Home Fleet was ordered to proceed to Scapa Flow from Portland to safeguard the fleet from a possible German surprise attack. In August 1914, after the outbreak of World War I, the Home Fleet was reorganised as the Grand Fleet; Iron Duke remained the flagship of the fleet, now under Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. On the evening of 22 November 1914, the Grand Fleet conducted a fruitless sweep in the southern half of the North Sea; Iron Duke stood with the main body in support of Vice Admiral David Beatty's 1st Battlecruiser Squadron. The fleet was back in port in Scapa Flow by 27 November. Iron Duke and most of the fleet initially remained in port during the German raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby on 16 December 1914, though the 3rd Battle Squadron was sent to reinforce the British forces in the area. After receiving further information about the possibility of the rest of the German fleet being at sea, Jellicoe gave the order for the fleet to sortie to try to intercept the Germans, though by that time they had already retreated. Iron Duke went to sea with the 2nd and 4th Battle Squadrons for gunnery practice north of the Hebrides on 23 and 24 December. The following day, the rest of the fleet joined Iron Duke for a sweep in the North Sea, which concluded on 27 December.
Iron Duke and the rest of the fleet conducted gunnery drills on 10–13 January 1915 west of Orkney and Shetland. On the evening of 23 January, the bulk of the Grand Fleet sailed in support of Beatty's Battlecruiser Fleet, but Iron Duke and the rest of the fleet did not become engaged in the ensuing Battle of Dogger Bank the following day. Upon returning from the operation, Iron Duke went to Invergordon for refit; while she was away, HMS Centurion acted as the temporary fleet flagship. The work was completed by 23 February, after which she returned to Scapa Flow. On 7–10 March, the Grand Fleet conducted a sweep in the northern North Sea, during which it conducted training manoeuvres. Another such cruise took place on 16–19 March. On 11 April, the Grand Fleet conducted a patrol in the central North Sea and returned to port on 14 April; another patrol in the area took place on 17–19 April, followed by gunnery drills off Shetland on 20–21 April.
The Grand Fleet conducted a sweep into the central North Sea on 17–19 May without encountering any German vessels. On 25 May, Iron Duke carried Jellicoe to Rosyth to meet with Admiral Henry Jackson, the new First Sea Lord. Iron Duke returned to Scapa Flow on 28 May, in time to participate in another sweep into the North Sea on 29–31 May. After returning to Scapa Flow, Iron Duke immediately departed for Cromarty. The fleet conducted gunnery training in mid-June. Iron Duke, the 2nd Battle Squadron, and the 1st Cruiser Squadron conducted gunnery training at Cromarty on 2 August; after completing the drills, the ships returned to Scapa Flow. On 7 August, the ship again took Jellicoe to Cromarty for another meeting, this time with the Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith. Iron Duke was back in Scapa Flow by 16 August On 2–5 September, the fleet went on another cruise in the northern end of the North Sea and conducted gunnery drills. Throughout the rest of the month, the Grand Fleet conducted numerous training exercises. Iron Duke went to Invergordon on 1 October for another period of refitting—the work lasted until 11 October. Two days later, the majority of the fleet conducted another sweep into the North Sea, returning to port on 15 October. On 2–5 November, Iron Duke participated in another fleet training operation west of Orkney. Another such cruise took place on 1–4 December. Later in the month, Iron Duke took part in gunnery drills, and during them, conducted an experiment of sorts to determine the accuracy of the ship's gunners. Jellicoe concluded that the "result was very satisfactory."
Iron Duke collided with the tanker Prudentia on 12 January 1916 while in Scapa Flow, and the latter sank. The tanker had come loose during a severe gale, which had winds of up to 80 miles per hour (130 km/h). Iron Duke was undamaged in the accident. The typical routine of gunnery drills and squadron exercises occurred in January. The fleet departed for a cruise in the North Sea on 26 February; Jellicoe had intended to use the Harwich Force to sweep the Heligoland Bight, but bad weather prevented operations in the southern North Sea. As a result, the operation was confined to the northern end of the sea. On the night of 25 March, Iron Duke and the rest of the fleet sailed from Scapa Flow to support the Battlecruiser Fleet and other light forces that raided the German zeppelin base at Tondern. By the time the Grand Fleet approached the area on 26 March, the British and German forces had already disengaged and a severe gale threatened the light craft. Iron Duke guided the destroyers back to Scapa while the rest of the fleet retired independently.
On 21 April, the Grand Fleet conducted a demonstration off Horns Reef to distract the Germans while the Russian Navy relaid its defensive minefields in the Baltic Sea. The fleet returned to Scapa Flow on 24 April and refuelled before proceeding south in response to intelligence reports that the Germans were about to launch a raid on Lowestoft. The Grand Fleet did not arrive in the area until after the Germans had withdrawn, however. On 2–4 May, the fleet conducted another demonstration off Horns Reef to keep German attention focused on the North Sea. In an attempt to lure out and destroy a portion of the Grand Fleet, the German High Seas Fleet, composed of 16 dreadnoughts, six pre-dreadnoughts, six light cruisers, and 31 torpedo boats, departed the Jade early on the morning of 31 May. The fleet sailed in concert with Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper's five battlecruisers and supporting cruisers and torpedo boats. The Royal Navy's Room 40 had intercepted and decrypted German radio traffic containing plans of the operation. The Admiralty ordered the Grand Fleet, totalling some 28 dreadnoughts and 9 battlecruisers, to sortie the night before to cut off and destroy the High Seas Fleet. On the day of the battle, Iron Duke steamed with the 4th Battle Squadron, and was the 9th ship in the British line.
The initial action was fought primarily by the British and German battlecruiser formations in the afternoon, but by 18:00, the Grand Fleet approached the scene. At around 18:14, two large-calibre shells fell near Iron Duke but caused no damage. Fifteen minutes later, Iron Duke had closed to effective gunnery range—some 26,000 yards (24,000 m)—of the German fleet, and took the dreadnought SMS König under fire. Iron Duke's first salvo fell short, but the next three were on target; the ship's gunner claimed at least six hits on the German battleship. In fact, they had scored seven hits on König and inflicted significant damage.
Shortly after 19:00, fighting around the disabled German cruiser SMS Wiesbaden—which had been badly damaged earlier in the engagement—resumed. Iron Duke opened fire on the crippled cruiser and nearby destroyers with her secondary battery at 19:11 at a range of 9,000 to 10,000 yards (8,200 to 9,100 m). Iron Duke's gunners claimed to have sunk one of the destroyers and hit a second, but they had in fact missed their targets entirely. Shortly thereafter, the German destroyers attempted to launch a torpedo attack on the British line; Iron Duke began firing at 19:24. The sinking of the destroyer SMS S35 is credited to a salvo from Iron Duke, but determining which ship fired which shells in the melee is difficult, according to naval historian John Campbell.
Following the German destroyer attack, the High Seas Fleet disengaged, and Iron Duke and the rest of the Grand Fleet saw no further action in the battle. This was, in part, due to confusion aboard Iron Duke over the exact location and course of the German fleet; without this information, Jellicoe could not bring his fleet to action. At 21:30, the Grand Fleet began to reorganise into its nighttime cruising formation. Early on the morning of 1 June, the Grand Fleet combed the area, looking for damaged German ships, but after spending several hours searching, they found none. Iron Duke returned to Scapa Flow, arriving at 11:30. Over the course of the battle, Iron Duke had fired ninety rounds from her main battery, along with fifty rounds from her secondary guns. On 18 August, the Germans again sortied, this time to bombard Sunderland; Scheer hoped to draw out Beatty's battlecruisers and destroy them. British signals intelligence decrypted German wireless transmissions, allowing Jellicoe enough time to deploy the Grand Fleet in an attempt to engage in a decisive battle. Both sides withdrew, however, after their opponents' submarines inflicted losses in the action of 19 August 1916: the British cruisers Nottingham and Falmouth were both torpedoed and sunk by German U-boats, and the German battleship SMS Westfalen was damaged by the British submarine E23. After returning to port, Jellicoe issued an order that prohibited risking the fleet in the southern half of the North Sea due to the overwhelming risk from mines and U-boats unless the odds of defeating the High Seas Fleet in a decisive engagement were high.
In the aftermath of Jutland, the Royal Navy determined that horizontal protection, particularly over ammunition magazines, was insufficient. As a result, many ships in the Grand Fleet had additional armour installed; Iron Duke went into dock for this work in October. The work, which saw over 100 long tons (100 t) of armour added to the ship, was completed by December. On 28 November 1916, while she was still in dry dock, Admiral Beatty replaced Jellicoe as the commander of the Grand Fleet; Iron Duke served as his flagship until January 1917, when he transferred to Queen Elizabeth. In 1918, flying-off platforms for aircraft were installed on Iron Duke's "B" and "Q" turrets.
Funnell would leave Iron Duke on 8th February 1918 and return to Victory where he remained until 20th March 1918, and then Leviathan from 21st March 1918 until 27th February 1919, Wellington (attached Leviathan) from 28th February 1919 until 31st December 1919 and finally Pembroke VIII from where he was pensioned ashore on 16th January 1920.
