James ‘Jim’ Deane joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Seaman aged fifteen in 1901. He spent three years in the training ship HMS Northampton before serving in HM Ships Leander, Tyne, Blake and Indomitable as a Steward.
Deane spent the entirety of the First World War serving at Ascension Island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean before being relocated to HMS Columbine, a naval base in Scotland for a further five years.
Deane left the Royal Navy in 1925 and relocated to New Zealand. He served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) in New Zealand and was mobilised in 1940, serving the entire Second World War in the shore establishment HMS/HMNZS Philomel. He was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the 1945 King’s Birthday Honours List.
Instituted in 1922 as the lowest level of the Order of the British Empire. In New Zealand it was awarded to non-commissioned officer’s (NCOs) for meritorious service until 1995 and for gallantry between 1957 and 1974.
Awarded to ratings who have served a minimum of 15 years in the Royal Navy (previously 21 or 10 years), the first version of this medal was instituted in 1831 and it is still issued to Royal Navy personnel today. It features the reigning monarch’s head on the obverse and HMS Victory on the reverse with the recipient’s details engraved or impressed on the edge of the medal. This medal was also issued to eligible personnel serving in the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy from 1921-1941 and then to Royal New Zealand Navy personnel from 1941-1981. In 1985 a New Zealand Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was introduced bearing the exact same design.
Presented to James Deane of HMS Indomitable for jumping into the Thames and saving a man from drowning in 1909. The Fleet was a magazine.
