Pair: Lieutenant E. E. Hardy, Royal Navy, who was Mentioned in Despatches for his gallantry...

Pair: Lieutenant E. E. Hardy, Royal Navy, who was Mentioned in Despatches for his gallantry in going ashore and spiking the enemy’s guns at Alexandria, before later serving with distinction on the Armoured Trains. Subsequently serving with the Naval Brigade as part of the Nile Flotilla, he died of enteric fever in May 1885 Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 2 clasps, Alexandria 11th July, The Nile 1884-85, second clasp loose (E. E. Hardy. Midsn. R.N. H.M.S. “Invincible”); Khedive’s Star, dated 1882, unnamed as issued, extremely fine (2) £700-£900 --- Edward Ernest Hardy was born on 15 July 1862, the son of the Reverend E. Hardy, of Longden, Wellington, Shropshire, and entered the Royal Navy as a Naval Cadet at Britannia on 15 January 1876. He was appointed Midshipman on 21 June 1878, and served in H.M.S. Invincible from 23 February 1881, being present at the bombardment of Alexandria. During the bombardment of Alexandria he initially served in the Main Tops. directing fire as smoke obscured the gunners, before volunteering to go out and spike the guns, for which services he was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 29 July 1882): ‘About 2 p.m., seeing that the gunners in the western lower battery of Meix had abandoned their guns, and that the supports had probably retired to the citadel, I called in the gun vessels and gunboats, and, under cover of their fire, landed a party of twelve volunteers under the command of Lieutenant B. R. Bradford, of the Invincible, accompanied by Lieutenant Richard Poore, of that ship, Lieutenant the Hon. Hedworth Lambton, Major Tulloch, Welsh Regiment, attached to my staff, and Mr. Hardy, Midshipman, in charge of the boat, who got on shore through the surf and destroyed, with charges of gun cotton, two 10-inch muzzle loading rifled guns, and spiked six smooth bore guns in the right hand water battery at Meix, and re-embarked without a casualty beyond the loss of one of their boats on the rocks, This was a hazardous operation very well carried out.’ Promoted Sub-Lieutenant on 20 September 1882, Hardy subsequently served on the Naval Armoured Trains in 1882, and was praised by Admiral Seymour in a letter to the Admiralty on 22 September 1882: ‘The conduct of all the men employed with the Armoured Train had always been most praiseworthy... Midshipmen Ernest Hardy and Stafford Brown of the Invincible had generally been taken out on most instances when the train was in service.’ (an article entitled ‘Naval Armoured Trains in Egypt 1882’, by Captain K. J Douglas-Morris, published in The Review refers). Promoted Lieutenant on 31 December 1884, Hardy saw further service in H.M.S. Monarch as part of the Nile Flotilla’s 2nd Division. He died of enteric fever on 7 May 1885. Sold with copied service records, London Gazette and medal roll extracts; a photographic image of H.M.S. Invincible’s Armoured Train; and other research.