Harry Herbert Jerrom was born in the parish of Shinfield, Berkshire, on 26th July 1897. The oldest of eight children, his parents were caller Harry and Alice. Harry Sr was a farm labourer, and the family lived in Three Mile Cross.

Details of Harry Jr’s short life are scarce. Certainly when war broke out he stepped up to play his part, and had enlisted in the Royal Navy by the autumn of 1914. He was under the age to fully enlist by this point, and so held the rank of Boy 1st Class.

Harry was assigned to the battleship HMS Bulwark. Part of the Channel Fleet, she was tasked with patrolling and defending Britain’s southern coast. On 26th November 1914, Bulwark was moored in the River Medway, close to Sheerness, and was being stocked with shells and ammunition. That morning, some poorly stowed cordite charges overheated, detonating the shells stored nearby. The resulting explosion ripped through the battleship, and more than 740 crew were killed. Boy 1st Class Jerrom’s was among the bodies to be recovered: he was 17 years of age.

Those who were killed in the explosion were laid to rest in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent. As his body had been identified, Harry Herbert Jerrom was laid to rest in a marked grave.

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