Legion of Honour, 3rd Class awarded to Admiral William Oswald Story (1859-1938). Ten pointed, gold rimmed, white enamel badge with a gold ball on the tip of each point. Obverse: (Centered). Head of the Republic. Inscription: 'REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE 1870'. Reverse: (Centered) Crossed tricolours. Inscription: 'HONNEUR ET PATRIE'. Suspended from a watered silk red ribbon. ZBA4507-ZBA4510 on a bar.
Awarded for representing the British government as Captain of the Cruiser 'Cumberland', which was sent to Marseilles in September 1906, to salute President Fallières of the French Republic.

William Oswald Story was born in 1859 at ‘Bingfield’, the family estate, in Cavan, Ireland. He entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in ‘Britannia’ in 1872 and subsequently served in China, Japan, and the islands of the South Pacific.
As a midshipman in ‘Modeste’ he took part in the Perak expedition on the Malay Peninsula in 1875-6. In 1882 he was Sub-lieutenant of the gunboat ‘Mosquito’ during the Egyptian War and was mentioned in despatches and promoted for his gallantry while commanding a landing party at Chalof. As a lieutenant in ‘Dryad’ he took part in operation in the Eastern Sudan in 1884 and was awarded the Suakin clasp to his Egyptian Medal. Promoted to Commander in 1896 and Captain in 1902, he commanded various ships. April 1909 appointed to command the Eastern Coastguard District. After his promotion to Rear-Admiral in 1911, he retired and settled in Guelph, Ontario and during the First World War served as Admiral-Superintendent of the Royal Dockyard at Esquimalt and in 1918 held the same position at Halifax Dockyard. He was promoted to Vice Admiral in April 1917 and Admiral in October 1919 while on the retired list. His shipmates included Edmund Pears and Edward Sandys and he was a close friend of Prince Louis Battenburg (Mountbatten). He died on 14 January 1938.