Description
A Gallipoli Campaign 1914-1920 British War Medal awarded to Sergeant later Colour Sergeant Sidney Charles Wiltshire Royal Marine Light Infantry, who was recommended good services upon 23rd ?? occasion of the ship in action, (Po. 14198 Sgt. S. C. Wiltshire. R.M.L.I.), lightly toned very fine
Sidney Charles Wiltshire was born on the 6th of September 1877 in Winterbourne, a Baker by trade. He Joined the Royal Marine Light Infantry on the 8th of August 1913he served aboard H.M.S. Lord Nelson from the 10th of May 1914 to the 29th of September 1917, then returned to England with the Portsmouth Division. He was Discharged to Pension on the 6th of September 1923.
In February 1915, Lord Nelson was ordered to the Dardanelles to participate in the Dardanelles campaign. She departed Portland on 18 February and joined the British Dardanelles Squadron at Mudros eight days later. She took part in the bombardment of the inner forts and supported the initial landings in early March. The Ottoman Turkish forts engaged her heavily on 7 March and hit her several times, including by a stone cannonball which landed on the deck and was kept as a souvenir by the Flag Officer, Arthur Baker; she suffered damage to her superstructure and rigging and was holed by one hit below the waterline which flooded two coal bunkers. After repairs at Malta, the ship returned to take part in the main attack on the Narrows forts on 18 March. Later she bombarded Ottoman field batteries on 6 May prior to the Second Battle of Krithia.
Lord Nelson relieved the battleship Queens Elizabeth as flagship of the British Dardanelles Squadron on 12 Ma On 20 June, she bombarded docks and shipping at Gallipoli, aided by the spotting of a Kite Balloon, and inflicted significant damage.
With the end of the Dardanelles Campaign in January 1916, during which Lord Nelson had suffered no casualties, British naval forces in the area were reorganized and Lord Nelson became flagship of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron, which was redesignated the Aegean Squadron in August 1917; under either name, the squadron was dispersed throughout the area to protect Allied-held islands, support the British Army at Salonika, and guard against any attempted breakout from the Dardanelles by the German Battlecruisers Goeben and Breslau. Lord Nelson spent the remainder of the war based at Salonika and Mudros alternating between the two bases with her sister ship.
Sold with copy Service papers
