Naval General Service Medal clasp Syria impressed naming WILLIAM CORP, Baltic Medal engraved naming W CORP 80 CO RMLI WD & Royal Navy Wide Long Service & Good Conduct Medal engraved naming W CORP PTE RM 22 YRS.
Provenance Lusted Feb 1975 £125; Glen Dec 1923. We assume WD on Baltic means Woolwich Division.
WilliamCorpwas born in Ringwood, Hampshire, and having worked as a plasterer, was aged 19 when he attested for service with the Royal Marines at Bath on 13th June 1837, joining as a Private with the 80th Company of the Woolwich Division.Corpwent on to see service afloat aboard the 84-gun warship Powerful from 5th January 1839 to 6th January 1842. During this period Powerful was commanded by Captain Charles Napier, mainly serving in the Mediterranean and for much of the time as lead ship of a detached squadron under Napier's orders.
On the evening of 29th May 1839, she was anchored in the Cove of Cork, Ireland when Napier received urgent orders from the Admiralty to proceed at once to Malta in view of the imminent probability of war with Egypt. He was also informed that the ships-of-the-line Ganges and Implacable had already started from England. Wishing to overtake them, Napier set sail at 2 a.m. on the 30th for Gibraltar. Powerful arrived at Gibraltar on 12th June to hear the other two ships were three days ahead of her, but by superior seamanship Napier overtook them in the Mediterranean and Powerful entered the harbour of La Valletta, Malta on the evening of 24th June, with band playing and under every stitch of canvas, twelve hours ahead of her rivals. After a year in the Mediterranean while the political situation changed, the ship took a prominent part in the Syrian War against the expansionist designs of Mehmet Ali.
The increasing power of Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, alarmed the major European nations. In summer 1839, Egyptian forces destroyed a strong Turkish army and captured the Turkish fleet at Alexandria. With the Egyptians now in Syria, Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia intervened. A combined fleet under Admiral Sir Robert Stopford, with his flagship Princess Charlotte, of 104 guns, sailed to the eastern Mediterranean, bombarded Acre and stormed the town on 3rd November 1840. The Egyptians agreed to evacuate the town and return the Turkish fleet. Sir Robert Stopford received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament and the Freedom of the City of London for this action. Austria, Prussia, Russia, Russia and Turkey also bestowed marks of distinction.
Powerful was notably at the bombardment of Acre, 3rd November 1840, where she sustained damage but no casualties. Powerful was then flagship of the squadron that blockaded Alexandria from 25th November. In 1841 Napier was succeeded as her captain by George Mansel, and then Sir Michael Seymour, who commanded her from 1841.Corpwent on to see service aboard the 74-gun warship Agincourt from 24th April 1842 through to 2nd September 1843, and was then aboard the 110-gun warship Hibernia from 20th March 1845 through to 23rd June 1849.
Present aboard the 28-gun frigate Crocodile from 15th October 1851 through to 30th December 1853, he then served aboard the newly launched 80-gun warship Majestic from 18th February 1854 through to 15th May 1857, during which period with the Russian War, he saw service aboard her in the Baltic where she was present at Baro Sound on 13th June 1854. Corp was ultimately back aboard the frigate Crocodile from 6th January 1858 to 29th December 1859, and having been awarded the Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal after 22 years’ service, was discharged from the 80th Company ‘at his own request’ on 28th January 1860.
All of his medal entitlements are confirmed in writing on his service papers including the Good Conduct Medal and gratuity.
