Lieutenant Commander
William Wells-Hood
RNVR
8 February 1880-1965
William Wells-Hood was born in York, UK, on 8 February 1880. He is one of Ivo's ancestors.
William served as a Private in Boer War in South Africa as a member of the 66th Company Yorkshire Imperial Yeomanry. For his service in this war, he was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal along with Cape Coloney, Transvaal and Wittenbergen clasps, and the medal of his company.
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| William Wells-Hood of the 66th Company Yorkshire Imperial Yeomanry. |
Prior to the outbreak of World War 1, William was a commissioned officer of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) and in 1914 he held the rank of Sub Lieutenant. (The RNVR were the first to develop armoured car squadrons during the First World War.)
William was awarded the Order of St Anne, Third Class, by the Emperor of Russia to recognise his valued service. King George duly granted William the authority to wear this prized decoration on 29 April 1916 at Whitehall.
William was also mentioned in dispatches in 1917, then given the award of Distinguished Service Order in May 1918. The London Gazette of 17 May stated:
"This officer joined the Armoured Cars at the outset of the war, and served with them in Belgium, South-West Africa, France, the Caucasus, Armenia, the Dobrudja, and Galicia. Throughout the Galician retreat he fought every day and night, under every sort of difficulty, always cheerful and ready, and inflicted very heavy casualties on the enemy. His last fights round Gusiatyn were very severe, and drew the praise of the Russian General in command. In the last days fight he brought down an enemy aeroplane."
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| William Wells Hood after being invested. War Memorial, York |
William was awarded the following medals from the three wars he served in:
- 1899 QSA 3 clasps Cape Colony, Transvaal, Wittebergen
- 66th Company Yorkshire Imperial Yeomanry Medal
- 1914 Star Trio, and bar with MID oak leaf
- Russian Order of St George, Fourth Class
- Russian Order of St Vladimir Medal with Swords
- Russian Order of St Anne, Third Class
- KGV Distinguished Service Order
- WWII Defence Medal & British War Medal
William died in Warwickshire, UK, in 1965 aged 84. His medals were sold at an auction in 2009 for 17,150 British pounds (approximately $NZ 50 000)!
Sources of Information
Family held information
Warwick & Warwick - Auctioneers
I am interested in Armoured Cars in Russia,and I know it was in Dec.2015 that the article is written.Is Ivo still at the school,and what information the family on william Wells-Hood.
ReplyDeleteOh sorry... for this very late reply. Unfortunately there is no new information about William Wells-Hood.
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