A rare example of a medal for the China War 1900 awarded to ...

Estimate

£800 - £1,000

A rare example of a medal for the China War 1900 awarded to a KIA casualty of the British Royal Navy: the China Medal 1900 with clasp ‘Relief of Pekin’ named to: H Charlo PO 1 Cl HMS Endymion.
Herbert Charlo was born on 07/08/1874 at Kingston, Dorset where his father, William Charlo, was a Commissioned Boatman in the Coast Guard. The 1881 Census shows the family living at Flamborough, where his father was now the Chief Officer of the Coast Guard. Herbert enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class at Portsmouth on 14/01/1890 and started his 12 year Continuous Service Engagement as an OS on
07/08/1892. He advanced rapidly through the ratings and was promoted to Petty Officer 1st Class on 1 July 1899 aboard HMS Endymion, a first class cruiser of
the Edgar class, launched on 22 July 1891.
PO Charlo was a member of the contingent disembarked by HMS Endymion to the Naval Brigade formed in June 1900 for Admiral Seymour’s initial abortive expedition for the relief of the Pekin legations, via the Tientsin-Pekin railway, during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. He was killed in action during the assault on the Haiku (Hsiku) fortress on 23 June 1900, receiving a bullet wound to the abdomen (see 'The ChinaWar Medal 1900' by Fevyer and Wilson.) Total Endymion casualties were10 killed and 39 wounded. (Poignantly, the medal roll shows that his medal was in due course sent to his sister, as both his parents had pre-deceased him).
This expedition was involved in some hard fighting against a determined enemy and was fortunate to extricate itself and make a successful retreat to Tientsin, albeit with
significant casualties With copies of his record of service, an extract from the RN casualty roll for the China 1900 operations, China Medal roll and other papers. Good Very Fine (GVF) condition.