John Merritt was born on 17th August 1880 in Shoreditch, London, and was the youngest of three children to James and Emily Merritt. James was a dock labourer, who passed away when his son was just four years old. Emily remarried the following year, having a child with her new husband, George Wise, in 1888.

When he completed his schooling, John found work as a stoker. However, he sought bigger and better things and, on 21st February 1898, he enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry. Not yet eighteen years old, his service records show that he was 5ft 5.5ins (1.64m) tall, with grey eyes, brown hair and a fresh complexion. His service records also record a couple of tattoos: an anchor on his left forearm, and a crossed heart on his right.

Over the next two decades, Private Merritt sailed and saw the world. Primarily based out of the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, he served on ten ships in all. His superiors obviously thought highly of him, as his records note his character and ability as very good throughout his service.

On 3rd July 1909, John married Harriett Wise. She was a lighterman’s daughter from East London, who was working as a cork cutter when the couple exchanged their vows. They went on to have two children: Florence, who was born in 1910, and Reginald, who came along six years later.

By the time war was declared in the summer of 1914, John seems to have been mainly shore-based, his time being split between Chatham and Portsmouth, Hampshire.

On 7th March 1917, Private Merritt was on board the gunboat HMS Spey, which was carrying out diving operations in the Thames Estuary. At 4 o’clock in the afternoon, in “bitterly cold and boisterous conditions” [Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald: Saturday 24th March 1917], the ship lost an anchor, and the decision was made to return to base at Sheerness, Kent. Another vessel, the HMS Belvedere, was close by and turned towards the Spey, and, despite trying to avoid a collision, the smaller ship was struck a glancing blow.

The Spey was 40 years old, and the impact sheered numerous rivets from the side. Water gushed in, and the gunboat sunk beneath the Thames within a matter of minutes. Some of the crew had managed to escape on a life raft, but it was not fitted with lights or flags. The boat drifted and was not found until five hours later, partially submerged: all on board had died.

In total, twenty of the thirty-seven crew perished on that March afternoon, including Private Merritt. He was 36 years of age.

It would seem that Harriett was unable to cover the cost of bringing her late husband’s body back to London for burial. Instead, John Merritt was laid to rest in Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent, not far from the naval base in Chatham which he had called home for so long.

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