No. 27
5th class order of the Brilliant Jade No.27 was awarded in 1938 to Captain H. E. Hillman, Royal Navy /order described in the Foreign Office forwarding letter from March 16, 1938 as "Order of the Brilliant Jade with Red Rosette with Blue and White Borders"/.
Silver, gilt, enamel.
Size 63 mm.
Captain Hillman was also awarded with China 1900 medal (Lieut. Commr. H. E. Hillman, R.N., H.M.S. Woodlark); 1914-15 Star (Commr. H. E. Hillman, R.N.); British War and Victory Medal (Commr. H. E. Hillman, R.N.); Defence Medal 1939-45; Chinese Order of the Striped Tiger, 3rd Class /Silver, gilt, enamel. Size 70 mm. Awarded on November 11, 1914/; Chinese Order of the Golden Grain, 5th Class /Silver, gilt, enamel. Size 57 mm. Permissioned to wear issued on June 23, 1915/.
Henry Eilbeck Hillman entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet in the Britannia training ship in July 1890, was advanced to Sub. Lieutenant in July 1894 and to Lieutenant in October 1896 and, in October 1899, received his first command, H.M.S. Woodlark, a river gunboat armed with two 6-pounders and manned by a crew of 37 officers and ratings.
Subsequently engaged in Chinese waters during the Boxer Rebellion, the Woodlark completed a remarkable ascent of the Upper Yangtze from Pehang to Chungking, the outward journey taking nearly a month, but the return journey just three days - a round trip of some 700 miles. Later, according to Hillman’s diary, "Their Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty expressed their approval of the expedition and mentioned the good work done by the engine-room staff in repairing the damage done to the bow of the Woodlark at the Yeh-tan rapid". And for his own part, in formulating ‘numerous plans of the Yangtse River, with direction’, he was awarded the Shadwell Prize, the gift of the Navy’s Hydrographer.
Indeed Hillman’s time on the China Station seems to have proved a defining moment in his career, for he opted to leave the Royal Navy in favour of a position in Chinese Customs, in which capacity he remained employed until being recalled in August 1914 as a Commander from the Retired List. Having then commanded the armed yacht Mekong on the China Station, he returned to the U.K. to take up an appointment on the Staff of Rear-Admiral E. R. Pears in June 1915 and, in July 1917, assumed command of Mars, the harbor depot ship at Invergordon, remaining similarly employed until the War’s end.
