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Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (0) (G. H. Scoble, Ord: H.M.S. Niobe) impressed naming;
1914-15 Star (200181 G. H. Scoble. L.S., R.N.);
British War and Victory Medals (200181 G. H. Scoble. L.S. R.N.)

George Henry Scoble was born in Plymouth, Devon, on 12 January 1881 and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Second Class on 18 July 1898. He served in HMS Niobe from 1 July 1899 to 2 December 1900, and was promoted Able Seaman on 10 September 1900. Advanced Leading Seaman on 8 November 1904, he saw further service during the Great War in a variety of ships and shore based establishments, and was promoted Petty Officer on 3 September 1920. He was shore pensioned on 14 February 1921; he did not receive a Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (1) Cape Colony (R. Wakeham. Pte., R.M.L.I., H.M.S. Niobe) small impressed naming;
[ 1914 Star and clasp ];
British War Medal (Ply. 7915 Pte. R. Wakeham. R.M.L.I.);
[ VM ];
Royal Navy LS&GC Ed VII (Ply. 7915 Richard Wakeham Pte. R.M.L.I.)

Noonan's say approximately 129 one-clasp Queen’s South Africa Medals were awarded to the ship’s company of HMS Niobe, around 60 of them to men of the Royal Marine Light Infantry.

Richard Wakeham was born in Lancashire in December 1877 and enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry in April 1896. Posted to the Plymouth Division, he served aboard the 1st class cruiser Niobe from December 1898 to November 1900, during which period he was among those landed at Walfisch Bay, with two Maxims and a 12-pounder field gun, in February of the latter year. He was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in June 1911.

Wakeham joined the RM Brigade in September 1914 and was one of around 50 Marines attached to the Armoured Car Section, RNAS, and served in Antwerp, qualifying for the 1914 Star with clasp - the latter appears to have been issued to his sister in 1929. Sadly, however, he was killed in action on 28 April 1917, while a member of the 2nd Royal Marine Battalion, a component of the Royal Naval Division. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, France.

An unusual pair with a proudly worn QSA, no clasp and Imperial Service Medal GV Robed bust type to Leading Seaman HMS Niobe who was later a Chargeman of Riggers, HM Dockyard, Devonport, Plymouth.

Queen’s South Africa Medal no clasp - R Woodman Ldg Smn HMS Niobe
Imperial Service Medal GV Robed bust type - Richard Woodman -
Imperial Service Medal London Gazette 23 May 1933 page 3454 “Richard Woodman Chargeman of Rigger HM Dockyard, Devonport”

Richard Woodman was born in Calstock, Cornwall 3 April 1872 to Joseph (1818) and Mary (1843) Woodman. He had two brothers; John (1871) and William (1875). His father was a mine laborer and had been born in Milton Abbot, Devon and his mother was from Lamerton, Devon. Richard was a Farm Laborer, and entered the Royal Navy aboard HMS Impregnable as Boy 2nd Class on 1 November 1887. He subsequently served on HMS Royal Adelaide 13 September 1889; HMS Flamingo 28 September 1889; HMS Beagle 3 September 1890 where he was rated Ordinary Seaman 3 October 1890, Able Seaman 1 March 1892, and advanced to Leading Seaman 11 January 1896. Continuing to serve ashore and afloat, he joined HMS Niobe 6 December 1898, he was advanced to Petty Officer 2nd Class on 22 February 1900 and Petty Officer 1st Class on 1 December 1900. Joining Vivid on 14 December 1901, he was discharged shore on 4 December 1901 and was employed at HM Dockyard, Devonport. Woodman joined the Devonport Royal Fleet Reserve on 18 August 1902 and re-enlisted for five (5) years on 18 August 1907. The 1911 census records him as a Rigger, and a government employee (at HM Dock Yard Devonport), aged 39 years residing with his wife Maud, three sons and three daughters at 7 Ferry Street, Torpoint, Cornwall. He married Elizabeth Maude Emma Marston (1877) on 16 April 1904 at East Stonehouse, St. George. They were Anglicans. The 1939 Register records him as a retired Chargeman of Riggers, and a widower residing with a daughter still at 7 Ferry Street, Torpoint. He died in Plympton, Plymouth in 1954 age 82 years.