IV submarine flottilla Hong Kong

I haven't heard of that medal before. Any chance you can upload a photo of it? (Here's how: https://gwulo.com/node/2076). Maybe one of the medal experts reading will be able to identify it.

I’ve not heard of it before but clearly bestowed due to military action. Think also medal bestowed from a non-Western organisation (e.g. Republic of China so might need to research a Chinese name equivalent) and civil fraternities e.g. was he member of a Masonic organisation. 

I assume you’ve got a copy of your grandfather’s service record - any clues in there where it might come from?

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D7604427

Hi Jon,

Thanks for the photos

The link I posted for the National Archives has four separate documents relating to your grandfather’s naval service record. Each costs £3.50 to download a pdf format. 

There is no official single entity that represents the vast area of the “Far East”. It makes me wonder if this “Grand Order” could be a self-annointed civil fraternity group. Since the wording is entirely in English with no Chinese characters I can safely assume this “Grand Order of the Far East” has nothing to do with any Oriental organisation, but more an Occidental one.

In addition with official British military medals you don’t have the name of the recipient inscribed or engraved on the obverse of the medal...it should be on the rim...if it is inscribed. So these clues suggest that maybe this medal is a bespoke production done in appreciation of a service. 

The whole "Grand Order" thing says "Freemasons" to me. Is it possible this is something to do with them?

My husband's grandfather, William Richmond Fell, has two photos in his 1928-1929 album labelled "Farewell to Captain Glencross". I've looked up his service record and the date for his departure seems to be February 1929:

"His final command appointment was as captain of Titania and as Captain (S) of the Fourth Submarine Flotilla, running from March, 1927 until he was superseded in February, 1929. His service with 4S.F. earned him the Grand Order of the Far East bearing inscriptions as:^[12]"

^{(Footnote 12 reads "}Email from Jon Glencross to Tony Lovell, 9 April, 2016 and following days.")

I will post the two photos separately in the HMS Titania Gallery. I'm not sure if I can successfully post them in this thread.

We don't know which of the family has WRF's medals. They are probably in New Zealand. We will try to find out, but don't think that he was at Chefoo.

Hi Jon,

I'm sure my grandfather-in-law would have been glad that his photos were useful to future generations. As to the Grand Order of the Far East, it seems clear that it was awarded to your grandfather for his service in the 4th Submarine Flotilla. I don't know anything about the Japanese Cruises, but that is one of the three things that the medal was awarded for. It would be useful to find the email correspondence cited between Tony Lovell and your grandfather. It must be somewhere. Presumably you have obtained the three National Archive documents mentioned by eurasian_david relating to your grandfather's service. It would be surprising if the National Archive or the Submarine Museum at Gosport had no record of this medal (both closed at the moment, I think). Meanwhile I'll let the combined expertise of Gwulo contributors have another crack at this problem, as naval history isn't my field. I agree that Chinese or Japanese characters would figure on the medal if either of those countries had been involved. Have a look at http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/John_Buller_Glencross