CHAPLAIN PETER PARKER SMITH, HMS CAMBRIDGE ROYAL NAVY. Naval General Service Medal 1793-1

THE RARE CHAPLAIN’S NAVAL GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL 1793-1840 TO CHAPLAIN PETER PARKER SMITH, HMS CAMBRIDGE, ROYAL NAVY, FOR SERVICES AT SYRIA IN NOVEMBER 1840. Naval General Service Medal 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Syria (an officially named late issue medal, engraved in serifed capital letters in Hunt & Roskell’s distinctive, “upside down” late issue format: P. SMITH). Scattered minor edge nicks, rim bruises and surface contact marks, otherwise Good Very Fine, and accompanied by a length of original ribbon.

Only 26 N.G.S. Medals previously recorded as having been awarded to Chaplains in the Royal Navy, this recently discovered medal bringing the total now to 27.

Medal accompanied by biographical details, brief copied extracts from Chaplain Smith’s service record, copied extract HMS Cambridge muster book for the period 1st October – 31st December 1840, confirming Chaplain Smith saw service aboard HMS Cambridge during the Syria operations in 1840, and extract St Jean d’Acre Medal roll, confirming entitlement to the St Jean d’Acre Medal 1840 for service as Chaplain aboard HMS Cambridge, the entitlement to this latter medal further confirming Chaplain Smith’s entitlement to the NGS Medal with Syria clasp (the St Jean d’Acre Medal delivered to Chaplain Smith’s father, W.P. Smith, on 10th October 1842), along with copied extracts Cambridge University Alumni 1261-1900 and Crockford’s Clerical Directory, extract 1861 census, and copied extracts Navy Lists of the period.

Chaplain Smith’s name does not appear in either the original or the published medal roll for the Naval General Service Medal, because he did not initially make a claim for the medal and Syria clasp. Early claims for the Syria clasp, from the announcement of the award of the medal on 1st June 1847 and up to June 1848, were initially refused, because a clasp for the Syria operations had, up to then, not been authorised. When the Syria operations were subsequently added to the list of actions for which a clasp (and medal, if not yet awarded) would be awarded, a substantial number of officers and men still failed to submit a claim because the decision to award the Syria clasp was poorly advertised. As a result it was not until the early 1850s that Chaplain Smith became aware that he was entitled to a medal and clasp, and made his late claim. As a result, like many other late claims, Chaplain Smith’s award is not recorded in either the original or published medal rolls.

Medal also accompanied by extensive and detailed research regarding this medal by Barry Scott (OMRS 1373), with additional research by Dr Evelyn S. Edwards, confirming that this is an official Hunt & Roskell late issue medal with engraved naming.

Scott and Edwards, during their research into this medal, uncovered only three potential candidates who might possibly have been the recipient, and after ruling out the two other candidates, a Patrick Smyth (alias Smith), HMS Bellerophon, and a Patrick Smith, HMS Cyclops, concluded that this medal was awarded to Chaplain Peter Parker Smith for service aboard HMS Cambridge during the Syria operations.

This medal will be included in a list of known late issue Naval General Service Medals with Hunt & Roskell engraved naming that will form part of a forthcoming publication by Barry Scott on the NGS Medal, with its attribution to Chaplain Peter Parker Smith confirmed in that listing.

Scott and Edwards additionally note that this medal at one time had its original Syria clasp removed by one of the “Syria Fakers” and replaced with a “Venerable” clasp.

The award of the Naval General Service Medal 1793-1840 was not actually announced until 1st June 1847, and it was not until June 1848 that it was confirmed that the medals were available for distribution, and January 1849 before the medals first began to be distributed. In order to receive a medal, qualified recipients had to apply, either personally or via an agent. There is no record of Chaplain Peter Parker Smith having applied for a medal at the time that the award was originally advertised. In January 1851 the authorities announced that no further applications for a medal would be taken into consideration unless submitted before 1st May 1851. However, in the event, a number of late claims were actually issued from the second half of 1851 onwards. At this stage, May 1851, the Royal Mint ceased naming the medals, and after that date the naming of late issue medals was carried out by Hunt & Roskell, with the naming on the late issue medals being engraved, often upside-down. Batches of late issue medals were authorised in 1854 and 1856, mostly to serving officers and men who, like Chaplain Smith, had failed to apply earlier (though it is known that medals were also authorised for issue to some officers and men who were no longer serving).

The fact that Chaplain Smith was awarded a late issue medal is confirmed by the Navy Lists of the period. Navy lists from 1847-53 do not have an “M” against Chaplain Smith’s name (to indicate that he was in possession of a Naval General Service Medal). However, from the mid 1850s onwards, Smith’s name appears with an “M” against it, confirming that Chaplain Smith was, by then, in possession of a medal, having made a late application for his medal (hence the official late issue Hunt & Roskell engraved naming on his medal). Chaplain Smith’s medal being among those medals that were distributed in two batches in 1854 and 1856.

Peter Parker Smith (1812-1889) was born in Stoke Damerel, Devon and was educated at St John’s College, Cambridge (graduated BA 1837). He entered the Royal Navy as a Chaplain on 2/3/1840, first seeing service aboard HMS Cambridge from March 1840 (appearance 11/3/1840), Smith’s warrant being dated 2/3/1840. He subsequently saw service aboard HMS Belvidera from 10/10/1842, ashore from February 1843 and retired from the Active List of the Royal Navy in 1866.

The 1861 census records Chaplain Smith as the 49 year old Curate of Cooling, Kent. In later life Smith was Chaplain of Stanwick St John in the Diocese of Ripon, Yorkshire, and was private Chaplain to the Earl of Brownlow.

Chaplain Smith married Mary Jane Hallett on 20/5/1843 in Gibraltar and died on 20/3/1889 in Plymouth, Devon.

Adelbert Brownlow-Cus, 3rd Earl of Brownlow (1844-1921) saw service with the Grenadier Guards, 1863-66, and later saw service with the Militia. He was elected MP for Shropshire, 1866, but was forced to resign his seat the following year when he succeeded to the Earldom of Brownlow. After entering the House of Lords he held several posts in Lord Salisbury’s government during the 1880s and 1890s, and was successively Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria, Edward VII and George V.

HMS Cambridge was an 80 gun, third rate ship of the line, launched in June 1815. During the Syria operations she saw service with the British naval squadron in the Mediterranean, taking part in the bombardment of Beirut and the blockading of Alexandria.

A similar Naval General Service Medal, also with official Hunt & Roskell “upside down” engraved naming, was sold by Noonans (then Dix Noonan Webb) on 12/11/2020 (lot 420). That medal, a 2-clasp example to a Lieutenant James Neville, had had the original naming erased and was re-engraved “upside down” in serifed capitals in an identical style to Peter Smith’s medal. The auctioneer of the Neville medal noting that it “could well be a privately commissioned piece from Hunt & Roskell”, produced after February 1851.

Provenance: Lyon & Turnbull auction, Edinburgh, 13/9/2022, lot 159 (part) when it was sold with a tailor’s copy Venerable 17th Jan: 1814 clasp, having at one time been altered by one of the notorious “Syria” fakers