Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Mercantile Marine War Medal 1914-18 (2) (Fred Ashworth; Joseph Cross) very fine (2) £60-£80

Fred Ashworth was born in Manchester in 1888 and served during the Great War in the Mercantile Marine. He later served in the Second World War in S.S. Jessmore, as Second Engineer Officer when, on 19 February 1941, she was damaged by a collision in convoy, on passage from Hull for Table Bay and the Mediterranean. Abandoned the following day, she sank on the 21 February 1941. He died a few weeks later on 2 March 1941, aged 53, and is buried in Unsworth Methodist Chapelyard, Lancashire.

Joseph Cross was born in Stepney, London in 1876 and served during the Great War in the Mercantile Marine. He later served during the Second World War as a Donkeyman in S.S. Rye, and died, aged 64, on 7 March 1941, when she was torpedoed and sunk by S-27. Rye was one of six boats sunk that day, from convoy FN-26, by E-Boats off Cromer, Norfolk. He is buried in Bacton (St. Andrew) Churchyard, Norfolk.