[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]George William Thomas was born at Devonport Devon on 2 September 1856, to John and Betsy Hogben. His father served in the Baltic and China campaigns on HMS Majestic and HMS Sans Pareil, and in addition to the two unnamed no bar medals received an engraved LSGC on June 8th, 1875 while serving on HMS Britannia.
George entered the RN in 1873 and served on HMS Britannia with his father. After the Zulu and Egypt campaigns he joined the Coast Guard and received his LSGC medal on December 6th 1884, and continues to serve until 1911 attaining the rank of Chief Officer. He had a large family with his wife Sarah. Three of his sons, Harold, Horace and Edgar follow the family tradition and join the Royal Navy. Each are to receive WWI trios, Harold gets promoted to Gunner and receives the Silver Jubilee medal and serves throughout WWII. Horace and Edgar receive their LSGC medals in 1924 and 1931 while serving aboard HMS Hermes and HMS Victory respectively. Certainly I was very pleased to find a three generation LSGC medal family, and would be most interested in finding any of the other family medals.
HMS Cambridge – Boy 2nd Class – 11 September 1871 to 24 September 1872
HMS Cambridge – Boy 1st Class – 25 September 1872 to 31 December 1872
HMS Cambridge (116) – Boy 1st Class – 1 January 1873 to 16 January 1873 – 1st rate gunnery training ship at Devonport.
HMS Impregnable (98) - Boy 1st Class – 17 January 1873 to 10 February 1873 – 2nd rate training ship for boys.
HMS Britannia – Boy 1st Class – 11 February 1873 to 1 September 1874 -
HMS Britannia (121) – Ordinary Seaman – 2 September 1874 to 23 September 1874 – 1st rate training ship for boys.
George’s father John also served as Bosun’s Mate during his time aboard.
HMS Royal Adelaide (104) – Ord. – 24 September 1874 to 21 October 1874 – 1st rate depot ship at Devonport.
HMS Himalaya– Ord. – 22 October 1874 to 31 July 1875
HMS Himalaya – Able Seaman – 1 August 1875 to 11 May 1878 – iron screw troopship -
receives no bar South Africa Medal [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]HMS Cambridge – AB – 12 May 1878 to 31 August 1880
HMS Achilles – AB – 1 September 1880 to 14 June 1883
HMS Achilles – Leading Seaman – 15 June 1883 to 24 August 1883 – broadside iron clad battleship, served in Egyptian waters entitling the crew to a
no bar Egypt medal with reverse dated 1882.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Recently married, and with two young children
George must believe that the Coast Guard will allow him to be with his family. The remaining “ships” are Coastguard depot ships where
George serves in a variety of locations in Kent and Sussex.
HMS Hector – Boatman – 25 August 1883 to 22 April 1886 – served at Littlestone Kent
HMS Northampton – Boatman – 23 April 1886 to 22 November 1886
HMS Invincible – Boatman – 23 November 1886 to 3 December 1886
HMS Invincible – Boatman – 4 December 1886 to 1 March 1887 – served at Sandgate Cheriton Kent
HMS Invincible – Commanding Boatman – 2 March 1887 to 3 August 1894 – served at Sandgate
HMS Newhaven – Chief Boatman – 4 August 1894 to 25 September 1894
HMS Newhaven – Chief Boatman – 26 September 1894 to 31 December 1896 – served at Birling Gap
HMS Newhaven – Chief Boatman – 1 January 1897 to 16 July 1900 – served at Newhaven
HMS Newhaven – Chief Boatman in Charge – 17 July 1900 to 23 August 1900 – served at Newhaven
HMS Newhaven - Chief Boatman in Charge – 24 August 1900 to 28 June 1903 – No. 2 Battery
HMS Southern – Chief Boatman in Charge – 29 June 1903 to 23 February 1904
HMS Southern – Chief Officer – 24 February 1904 to 2 March 1904
HMS Southern – Chief Officer – 3 March 1904 to 2 September 1911 – served at Beachy Head
The IMPRESSED edge of his LSGC issued Dec. 6th 1884
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