A China 1900 Medal to Engine Room, Artificer 2nd Class (later Engineer Lieutenant-Commander) James

A China 1900 Medal to Engine Room Artificer 2nd Class (later Engineer Lieutenant-Commander) James Henry Humby, Royal Navy, no clasp (H. HUMBY, E.R.A. 2 CL., H.M.S. WALLEROO.), surface marks, toning removed, near very fine.

(36 mm)

James Henry Humby was born in Southampton on the 6th of January 1867. Having worked as an errand boy and been apprenticed at Thornycrofts in Woolston as a boiler maker, he entered the Royal Navy in October 1890 as acting Engine Room Artificer 4th class, on a twelve-year engagement. He served in H.M.S. Walleroo in the China War of 1900 (the Boxer Rebellion), and subsequently in the Persian Gulf and in the Gallipoli Campaign in H.M.S. Swiftsure. He saw further Great War Service in Q-ships being slightly wounded when torpedoed. He retired from the Navy in 1922, and died in 1932.