A highly sought after RAF timepiece and Lord Kitchener’s ‘Death Penny’ prove to be auction highlights
LORDK ITCHENER’ S‘ DEAT H PENNY’
One of the first examples of a British Memorial Plaque commemorative medallion has sold for a handsome sum
On June 5, 1916, a powerful explosion ripped through the starboard side of the armoured cruiser HMS Hampshire. Floundering in heavy seas and a force nine gale just a few miles off the coast of Orkney, the cruiser had hit a submarine-deployed mine and sank bow first within 15 minutes, taking 737 men with her.
It was an untimely end, one that thanks to the claims of Boer-turned-German spy Fritz Joubert Duquesne has been embroiled with conspiracy, but the sinking would have farreaching ramifications. Among those lost at sea was Field Marshal Horatio Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, and his entire military mission to support Russia and Tsar Nicholas II. Lord Kitchener, the ‘hero’ of Omdurman and the public face of Britain’s World War One recruitment effort, was the highest ranking British officer to be killed in action during that conflict. His body was never found and his death was a great shock to the British serviceman and those back home. Perha…
