Decorations RN Meritorious Service Medal Enlistment 01/02/1912 Next of kin address England More info Joined from school. Discharged 23/12/1922. Died Q4/1974. In the 1939 Register he was a linen salesman living at 10 Liss Road, Portsmouth with wife Miriam and two others. Perkins was born in Portsmouth in 1894 and enlisted in the RN as a ship's steward boy at the age of 15. He served ashore throughout 1914 and 1915 and was therefore ineligible for the 1914-15 Star. On 2 May 1916 he was drafted to the light cruiser Chester at the beginning of her maiden commission. Less than a month later she was in action at the Battle of Jutland when she suffered casualties of 35 killed and 42 wounded, and his young shipmate Jack Cornwell won the Victoria Cross. Perkins remained in the Chester until April 1919. At this time he was awarded the RN Meritorious Service Medal, quite a scarce medal. The MSM was introduced in the mid-19th century for the Army and Royal Marines as a kind of superior Long Service Medal for long-serving warrant officers and senior NCOs and came with a small annuity. There was no equivalent for the RN because this was before continuous service and ratings served from commission to commission. In the First World War the practice began of awarding the medal (without annuity) to soldiers for acts of bravery not in the presence of the enemy, e.g. putting out fires in ammunition dumps. A naval version of the MSM was then introduced in 1919 to reward similar acts, or especially arduous and meritorious service. About 1,000 medals were awarded before the medal was discontinued in 1923. Perkins was discharged from the navy in 1922 with a bonus of 326 pounds to ease his transition into civilian life.