Lancelot Percival Cramp was born in the Kent village of Sutton on 7th June 1891. The youngest of five children, his parents were bootmaker Alfred Cramp and his wife Elizabeth.

Lancelot – who preferred to be called Lance – seems to have had a disjointed childhood. Neither of his parents are recorded in the 1901 census, while he is noted as living with his widowed aunt, also called Elizabeth, in Ticehurst, Kent.

By the time he completed his schooling, Lance found work as a tinsmith. However, he sought a bigger and better career and, on 30th April 1910, he enlisted in the Royal Navy. Assigned the role of Stoker 2nd Class, his papers note that he was 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall, with auburn hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.

Stoker Cramp was sent to HMS Victory, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for his training. He was then sent to the battleship HMS Renown for his first assignment.

Over the next four years, Lance would serve on seven ships in total, returning to Portsmouth in between assignments. His service record notes a very good character and satisfactory ability and, in September 1911, he was promoted to Stoker 1st Class.

On 8 February 1914, Lance was given a new posting aboard the battleship HMS Bulwark. When war broke out, she was assigned to the Channel Fleet, which had the responsibility for patrolling and protecting Britain’s southern coastline.

On the morning of 26 November 1914, Bulwark lay anchored in the River Medway near Sheerness while taking on shells and ammunition. During the process, improperly stored cordite charges overheated and ignited nearby munitions. The massive explosion that followed tore the ship apart, killing more than 740 members of the crew. Stoker Lance Cramp was amongst those who died: he was 23 years of age.

Those who were killed in the explosion were buried in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent. The body of Lancelot Percival Cramp was identified, and laid to rest in a marked grave.

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