Awarded to Admiral Sir Louis Henry Keppel Hamilton in 1915. Badge: A gold cross, enamelled white with, in the centre, obverse, the Imperial Crown in gold on a red background within a wreath of laurel enamelled green. Reverse: Similar but with the Royal Cypher "GVR" instead of the crown. With bar for second award (1940).
The award of the DSO was published in the London Gazette 24 September 1915, 'For his service in the operations in the Cameroons. Lieutenant Hamilton was in charge of a river flotilla which drove the Germans out of the Dehane at the endo f December 1914. he was later in command of the deatchment which transported a naval gun 160 miles up the lower reaches of the Niger river, thence 480 miles up the Benne river and 60 miles by land and thus contributed in large measure to the success of the operations which culminated in the surrender of Garna 10 June 1915'. The bar was awarded in 1940 for services at Narvik in HMS 'Aurora' for which Hamilton was also awarded the Norwegian War Cross.
Louis Henry Keppel was born in 1890, entered the Royal Navy as a naval cadet in 1903 and was promoted to midshipman in 1908; sub lieutenant 1911; lieutenant 1913; lieutenant commander 1921; commander 1926; captain 1932; rear admiral 1941; vice admiral 1943; admiral 1947. He retired in 1948 and died in 1957.