A fine collection of family medals awarded to Lieutenant Joh...

Hammer

£900

A fine collection of family medals awarded to Lieutenant John Stafford Hough, R.N.R, to include Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C) 1939-1945 Star, Atlantic Star with France and Germany clasp, 1939-1945 War Medal, Queen Elizabeth 1953 Coronation Medal, and Royal Naval Reserve Decoration, with corresponding miniatures; sold with recipient's father's, Sub Lieutenant Stafford Frank Hough, miniatures to include Order of the British Empire (O.B.E), 1914-1918 War Medal, Victory Medal, Defence Medal, Denmark Order of Dannebrog, and French Medal De La Reconnaissance, sold with a photograph of Commander John Hough with the other officers on HMS Kittiwake. 

The Hough family had been seafarers dating back to the early 19th-century, where their business had taken them to Africa, the Crimea, and the Mediterranean, giving the family enough financial support to start their own shipping firm, the 'Samuel Hough Shipowner of Liverpool'. By 1874, they had three steamers in the Baltic, Mediterranean and Black Sea Tram Trade, and engaged in regular London-Liverpool trade with two cargo and passenger steamers. 

Stafford Frank was born in November 1889 and in 1906 was taken out of education by his father "in a rather Unfinished state". He spent time advancing through the ranks of the family company until 1917, when his name appears as a temporary paymaster in the Royal Naval Reserve, and was later an assistant paymaster on the HMS Sayonara. He joined the HMS Egmont in November of 1918 through to January 1919, where he was Paymaster Sub Lieutenant. He was demobilised in 1919, although still listed on the naval rolls in 1920 as a Paymaster Sub-Lieutenant. After the war, he returned to working for the family company, which had merged with two other shipping companies to form the Coast Lines Company, based in Falmouth. At the turn of World War II, he was active during the war effort as a Major in the Home Guard, while also having three of his ships from his personal shipping endeavours requisitioned. Stafford was awarded his O.B.E. in January 1951, while he was chairman of the Falmouth, Truro, and District Employment Committee; his Order of Danneborg for services to trade and shipping. 

Commander John Stafford Hough was born on 5th January 1916 in Plymouth and grew up around the Falmouth area. He joined Alfred Holt and Company as a midshipman in 1933 and sailed from Liverpool to the Far East. In 1937, he had completed his second mate's F. G. Certificate in Liverpool and joined his father in the Polepen shipping company, which traded to the Baltic and Norway. At this time, he joined the Royal Navy as a sub-lieutenant in Plymouth, and at the outbreak of the Second World War, he was called up as a Royal Navy reservist. The Royal Navy lists show him as a probationary sub lieutenant in the Royal Navy reserves in June 1939. He conducted Atlantic convoy duties as a sub-lieutenant and then later as a lieutenant on the Western Approaches. Royal Navy lists show him to have served on HMS Springbank (ship torpedoed) and served "entirely to satisfaction". He was seen as a capable and reliable officer and was promoted to lieutenant, serving as an executive officer on HMS Sheldrake. Once again, he conducted himself to the entire satisfaction of his superiors as a capable, loyal, and zealous first Lieutenant, and was recommended for command at an early date.

Lieutenant Howe served as commanding officer on HMS Kittiwake from 22 October 1942 to 12 June 1945 and carried out his duties with zeal and reliability, and conducted himself once more to entire satisfaction on all occasions. He was marked as an "exceptionally competent commanding officer who maintains the ship in the highest state of efficiency and is worthy of a more important command", remarked a more senior officer. He was awarded his Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry in the face of the enemy while commanding HMS Kittiwake. He was made a commander in June 1955 and became a captain superintendent of the British Seamen's Society Prince of Wales Sea Training School in Dover on 21 January 1956. He served for a further eight years and retired from the Royal Navy Reserve in September 1962, having led a distinguished career in the R.N.R.