Other Properties - Australian Groups

Lot 3664    SESSION 13 (2.30PM THURSDAY 21ST NOV)    Other Properties - Australian Groups

Estimate $15,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au

OBE, DSC GROUP OF TWELVE: The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (Officer) (Military); Distinguished Service Cross (GVR); 1914-15 Star; British War Medal 1914-18; Mercantile Marine War Medal 1914-18; Victory Medal 1914-19 with MID; 1939-45 Star; Pacific Star; War Medal 1939-45; Australia Service Medal 1939-45; Royal Naval Reserve Decoration (GVR); USA Legion of Merit Medal (Officer). The first, second, seventh, eighth, eleventh and twelfth medals unnamed, the second medal is hallmarked for London by maker SG (Sebastian Garrard), Mid. A.V.Knight. R.N.R. on third medal, S-Lt. A.V.Knight. R.N.R. on fourth and sixth medals, Alfred V. Knight on fifth medal, A.V.Knight. R.A.N.R. (S) on ninth and tenth medals. All named medals impressed. Swing mounted with old style bar with short pin at leading end and two hooks at the other end, some medals cleaned at one time now re-toned, very fine.

Together with a swing mounted matching set of miniatures but with the addition of a Defence Medal 1939-45.

OBE (Military): LG 2/6/1943, p2423; CAG 3/6/1943, p1149, to Commander A.V.Knight RANR - Distinguished service in HMAS Westralia. Award presented by the Governor-General at Admiralty House, Sydney on 23 June 1944.

DSC: LG 23/7/1918, pp8588-90, in recognition of distinguished services during the operations against Zeebrugge and Ostend in the night of the 22nd - 23rd April 1918 - to A/Sub-Lieutenant A.V.Knight RNR (HMS Sirius) - Showed great coolness under heavy fire, and was most useful throughout the operation. He at once volunteered on hearing that another operation was in contemplation.

US Legion of Merit: CAG 30/5/1946, p1461, to Commander A.V.Knight, RAN.

MID: (1) For his actions during a second assault on 10 May 1918.
(2) For mine sweeping duties in North Sea on 1919.

Alfred Victor Knight, born 20Feb1897 at Dover, Kent, England; joined RNR on 21Apr1915 at age of 18 and appointed Midshipman; trf to Chatham for training and then served in armed merchant cruiser HMS Victorian of 10 Cruiser Sqn on blockade duty in North Sea; posted to destroyers in Nov1916, first HMS Owl on escort duty to France and then HMS Crusader on the Dover Patrol and was promoted to Sub-Lieutenant; on 23Apr1918 was on HMS Sirius engaged in a head-on assault on Ostend Harbour in Belgium and awarded DSC; to HMS Northolt in Feb1919 and promoted to Lieutenant; to HMS Northolt as First Lieutenant on Northolt and engaged in mine sweeping North Sea until Oct1919; left active service in Jan1920 but remained in RNR; obtained master's certificate in merchant navy; travelled to Australia in 1922 and on 01Jan1923 was appointed Lieutenant in RANR (Seagoing); joined Union Steam Ship Co in 1925; promoted to Lt-Commander in RANR (S) 01Jan1931 and to Commander 30Jun1937; mobilised in 1940; Jun1941-Feb1943 commander of HMAS Lithgow, a Bathurst class corvette and Senior Officer of a group of four corvettes; swept for mines in Bass Strait, assisted in destruction of Japanese submarine I-124 off Darwin in Jan1942, escorted first contingent of Allied troops from Townsville to Milne Bay and took part in campaign to recapture Buna in northern New Guinea - awarded an OBE for these services in 1943 Honours List; commander of HMAS Westralia, an infantry landing ship, Feb1943 to Nov1944 and took part in Allied landings at Arawe, New Britian (Dec1943), Humboldt Bay, Dutch New Guinea (Apr1944), and Leyte Gulf, the Philippines (Oct1944); Appt'd senior Sea Transport Officer, Sydney in Nov1944 to help co-ordinate US and Australian Pacific campaign; ADC to Governor-General 02Mar1945-21Jul1947; promoted to Captain RANR (S) 31Dec1946; Demobilised from RANR 01Jul1947; to Retired List 19Feb1952; to Australian National Line from 1956 and commanded various ships; Appt'd ANL's first commodore in 1962 and honorary commodore of the fleet in 1972; chairman of the Glebe Island Committee and an active member of many naval and merchant navy associations, was a foundation member of the Naval Historical Society of Australia and at the Anzac Day Parade in Sydney he led the Westralia, Manoora and Kanimbla contingent; Died 22Jan1983 and his funeral was held at HMAS Watson, the Sydney South Head Naval Chapel.

An important group of medals awarded to a career naval officer and a master mariner. Born in 1897 and raised in England, the son of a Merchant Navy officer and the latest in a long family line of seafarers. He was a member of the local scout troop and at the age of 12 was a chorister at the famous Church of St Mary in Castro within the walls of Dover Castle. He joined the Roberts Steamship Co as a cadet in 1912 and served his apprenticeship in the coastal steamer Batiscan.

During his WWI service, on 23 April 1918, he participated in the raid on Ostend where the ship on which he was serving, HMS Sirius (an Apollo class cruiser), was one of the blockships for Ostend Harbour which was to create a diversion for an attack on the Belgian seaport of Zeebrugge. The raid failed but it created great propaganda for the British. For his part Sub-Lieutenant Knight was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross because he 'showed great coolness under heavy fire, and was most useful throughout the operation. He at once volunteered on hearing that another operation was in contemplation.' In a second assault on Ostend/Zeebrugge on 10 May 1918 Sub-Lieutenant Knight was Mentioned in Despatches.

During his merchant navy career, post WWI, Knight worked for the Booth and Blue Funnel Lines and for a time with the Malayan Customs in their campaign against rubber smuggling. In 1922 he visited Australia and met the Acting Director of Naval Reserves, Cdr Leo Quick, who persuaded him to transfer from the RNR to the RANR. Then in 1925 he settled permanently in Sydney and working for the Union Steam Ship Co of New Zealand he worked the Canada-New Zealand-Australia run. On 12 April 1930 he married Irene Ethel Pain, an artist, at St Nicolas' Anglican Church, Coogee, Sydney, NSW.

During his WWII service with RNR (S) he commanded two warships, HMAS Lithgow and HMAS Westralia, the latter on several occasions was the flagship of transport task units for infantry landings. For his exceptional service in command Knight was awarded the US Legion of Merit for being a 'forceful leader', and by his 'splendid co-operation in the conduct of a vital training programme, aggressive determination and untiring energies' he had 'contributed materially to combined large-scale operations and the successful prosecution of the war', in the South-West Pacific area.

Captain A.V.Knight, OBE, DSC, RD, US Legion of Merit, was Australia's most distinguished Naval Reserve Officer. He served in WWI with the British Navy and in WWII with the Australian Navy and was decorated in both wars. His awards make him the highest combined decorated Australian Naval Reserve Officer.

With a plastic covered folder of research.