Coronation medal, George VI 1937

Awarded to Claude Congreve Dobson (1885-1981). Obverse: Busts of their Majesties, crowned (left). Reverse: Royal cypher 'GRI'. Legend: 'GEORGE VI QUEEN ELIZABETH'. Inscription: 'CROWNED 12 MAY 1937'.. Mounted on a bar with five other medals.

Dobson joined the navy in 1901 via the officers’ training ship HMS ‘Britannia’. He was promoted lieutenant on 30 March 1906 and began training in submarines in 1907. He served in the submarine campaign in the Dardanelles in 1915. On 20 July 1915, he sunk U.23 after she attacked a trawler which had been towing his own submarine, C.27. In 1919, Great Britain was still at war with the revolutionary regime in Russia. The British Baltic Force was blockading a Russian base on Kronstadt. The ban on offensive action was lifted in July and on August 18th, Dobson led a raid by eight Coastal Motor Boats. The ‘Scooter Raid’ as it was called sank two Bolshevik battleships and a submarine depot ship in Kronstadt Harbour. After the war, Dobson served for three years with the Australian Navy, being promoted captain in 1925 and Rear-Admiral in 1936 having retired the previous year.

Object Details

ID: MED2107
Collection: Coins and medals
Type: Coronation medal
Display location: Display - Forgotten Fighters
Creator: Metcalfe, Percy
Events: Coronation of King George VI, 1937
Date made: 1937
People: Dobson, Claude Congreve
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Overall: 32 mm