RN China Station Submarine Football Competition Medal 1932
RN China Station Submarine Football Competition Medal 1932 - A China export hallmarked silver medal obverse engraved "Inter Submarine Football - 1932" with the shield engraved "Orpheus". Reverse engraved "J.H. Purkins HMS Medway IV SF". with hallmarks indicating the medal was made by Wing Nam & Company, 65 Queen s Road, Hong Kong. HMS Orpheus and Medway we submarines on the China Station.
John Humphrey Purkins was born in Newcastle in 1903 and enlisted into the Royal Navy in May 1921 at which time his trade was a miner. He was awarded the RN Long Service Medal in 1936 while serving on HMS Porpoise another submarine.
Able Seaman Purkins was drowned on 1st March 1939 when washed over board on HMS Rorqual, another submarine of the China Station. His probate shows he left his estate to his wife in London and interestingly that he died at Surabaya, Dutch East Indies.
Sold with service papers, LS&GC roll, Probate info, and a newspaper cutting from Newcastle Evening Chronicle detailing his death with a photo - all digital.