Royal Navy Long Service & Good Conduct Medal – Ship’s Steward Walter George McLean, Royal Navy – K.I.A. Jutland 1916
RN LS&GC – 350336 W. G. Mc LEAN, SH. STEWD. H.M.S. VIVID:
Walter George McLean was born on 29th June 1880 at 8 Wyndham Street West, Plymouth, Devon, the son of Walter McLean (1851–1918) and Ellen Rosetta (née Giles) (1855–1941). He was baptised at St Peter’s, Plymouth, on 29th July 1880, and appears as a child in Plymouth in the early census period. His mother is later recorded as his next of kin, living at Duncannon House, Dartmouth (also recorded at New Common Road, Dartmouth).
McLean entered the Royal Navy as a Ship’s Steward’s Boy on 2nd July 1895, beginning a long seagoing career that took him across the fleet in peace and war. His service papers describe him as a small-built man, standing 4ft 10in, with brown hair, grey eyes, and a fair complexion (height again recorded in 1911).
During the period of overseas operations in China, McLean served in H.M.S. Centurion during the Boxer Rebellion. While employed in North China he was specially promoted to Assistant Ship’s Steward for his services, the promotion being dated 29th June 1901 – a notable acknowledgement for a rating of his branch, and an early highlight of a career built on reliability and competence.
As a career steward he continued to serve in a series of postings at sea and in home waters. Later records show him joining H.M.S. Shearwater at Esquimalt, Vancouver Island, a key Royal Navy base for the Pacific Station, reflecting the genuinely global nature of his service. By January 1907 he was back in the United Kingdom with an appointment to H.M.S. Edgar at Chatham (to 31st December 1908), followed by service in H.M.S. Hannibal until 28th February 1910, including time in the commissioned reserve at Portsmouth.
After nearly eighteen years’ continuous service, McLean was awarded the Royal Navy Long Service & Good Conduct Medal on 4th July 1913, confirming an exemplary record over the qualifying period. Only weeks later, with tensions in Europe rising, he joined H.M.S. Defence on 2nd September 1913, remaining with her into the Great War. Contemporary crew-list and casualty material confirms him aboard as Ship’s Steward, Official Number 350336 (Devonport).
McLean served from the outbreak of war in H.M.S. Defence, and was killed in action on 31st May 1916 during the Battle of Jutland. In the action, Defence moved to engage enemy forces and came under intense fire from German capital ships; she was struck by heavy salvoes which detonated her magazines, destroying the ship with the loss of her entire company. McLean’s body was not recovered, and he is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial, ensuring his name remains permanently recorded among those of the Royal Navy who have no known grave.
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