Coroner's WW1 medals trump estimated sale price

The five World War One medals had been expected to fetch up to £250

World War One medals awarded to a former Hull coroner have sold at auction for almost double the estimated price.

Norman Jennings was a medical student when he was called up to serve as a surgeon probationer on the destroyer HMS Waveney in 1914.

After the war he qualified as a doctor and also studied law, becoming the coroner for Hull in 1935.

A spokesperson for auctioneers David Duggleby said the medals raised £440 in the sale on Thursday and would now be displayed in the coroner's office where Mr Jennings once worked.

The spokesperson added: "These are the types of things we love to sell - things with the stories - and that's what makes them special and that's certainly what brought the result yesterday."

Norman Jennings served in the Royal Navy before becoming the coroner for Hull

Jessica Tarver, of David Duggleby, previously told the BBC that Mr Jennings spent most of the war carrying out anti-submarine and counter-mining patrols in the North Sea.

"The medals themselves are not uncommon – the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, plus the St John Service Medal and Star," she said.

"What makes the group rare is the fact that it was awarded to a surgeon probationer."

Ms Tarver said there was ongoing debate about how many of "these extraordinary young men" there were.

"It seems likely that there were no more than 1,000 and the figure could be as low as 500," she added.

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