Pair naval officer's full dress epaulettes : Lieutenant J Howell-Price, Royal Naval Reserve

Pair of naval officer's full dress epaulettes lined with black leather stamped in gold with the manufacturer's details, and with padded dark blue silk where the epaulette rests on the end of the wearer's shoulder. Each epaulette has a brass slide underneath the strap and a gilded brass Royal Navy officer's button on top of the strap to secure it to the coat. One button has a king's crown, and the other a Queen Victoria crown. The slides are stamped 'RIGHT' and 'LEFT'. The upper side of the epaulette straps are covered in plain gold lace with a raised gold wire embroidered crescent at the shoulder end. Each strap bears a silver embroidered anchor and cable chain for the rank of lieutenant. The ends of the epaulettes have a double row of gold bullions. There are twenty gold bullions around the outer rim and nineteen smaller bullions inside them. The bullions are held out from the shoulder by a rigid crescent that is padded with dark blue silk on the inside and covered with gold silk on the outside.

John Howell-Price was born on 16 September 1886 in Sydney. At the age of 14 he joined the merchant navy. He later joined the Royal Naval Reserve as a sub lieutenant in March 1915. He was serving aboard the armed merchant cruiser HMS Alcantara during an encounter with the German raider SMS Grief in the North Sea in February 1916. Both ships were sunk and the survivors nearly froze to death in open boats before they were rescued. Howell-Price was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his part in the engagement. He later transferred to submarine service and was promoted to lieutenant in July 1917. On the night of 22/23 April 1918 Howell-Price took part in the British Navy's raid of the Belgian port of Zeebrugge which aimed to disable a major German U-boat base. Howell-Price was second-in-command and navigator of the submarine C3 which blew up the viaduct connecting the harbour defences to the shore. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. After the war he transferred to the Royal Australian Navy and returned to Australia in command of the submarine J3. In 1921 he rejoined the merchant navy as a master with the Federal Steam Navigation Co. Ltd, making several trips to Australia. Howell-Price died on 13 November 1937 in Liverpool, England. He was one of five brothers who were decorated for their distinguished military service in the First World War.