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accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Gibraltar, Great War, history, Kent, photography, Private, Royal Marines, Shropshire, story, Suffolk, war

Private George Wilson

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Private George Wilson

George Wilson was born on 1st February 1879 in the village of Worfield, Shoprshire. Details of his early life are unclear, although his father’s name was John.

When he completed his schooling, George found work as a porter. However, he was keen on adventure and a decent career, and so, on 31st May 1898, he enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry. His service papers show that he was 5ft 7.5ins (1.71m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a dark complexion. He was also noted as having a birth mark above his navel.

Private Wilson signed up for a period of twelve years and, during that time, he would serve around the world. Initially sent to barracks in Walmer, Kent, he would become based at Plymouth, Devon, in between assignments. Time overseas would include two years attached to HMS Magnificent (the 1901 census recording the battleship being moored in Gibraltar), two years on board HMS Spartan and three aboard HMS Encounter.

Away from the military, love blossomed and, in January 1909, George married Annie Curtis. She had a daughter, Gladys, who was either George’s, or was adopted by him. The couple set up home in Plymouth, and went on to have a son, Leslie, in 1911.

By this point, Private Wilson had renewed his military contract, and would go on to serve for a further seven years in the Royal Marines. In June 1915, he was assigned to the light cruiser HMS Carysfort. Part of the Harwich Force, her role was to patrol the waters off the east coast of England. During his time on board, George would have been involved in a number of sorties, including an attempt to intercept an enemy raid on Sunderland in August 1916, and another attempt to make contact with German ships off Zeebrugge, Belgium, that October.

In December 1917, while patrolling off Orford Ness, Suffolk. the Carysfort collided with the SS Glentaise, a collier ship. Two crew were killed in the incident, including Private Wilson: he was 37 years of age.

Carysfort sailed to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Navy Dockyard in Chatham, Kent. From here the body of George Wilson was taken to Woodlands Cemetery in nearby Gillingham, and he was laid to rest in the naval section there.

accident, Chief Stoker, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Kent, Leading Stoker, photography, Royal Navy, Stoker, story, war

Acting Chief Stoker Edward Stewart

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Acting Chief Stoker Edward Stewart

Edward Thomas Stewart was born on 7th September 1880 in the Kent village of Sturry. The middle of three children, his parents were farm labourer James Stewart and his wife, Frances.

When he finished his schooling, Edward found work as a coachman, but he sought a life of adventure and, on 24th July 1899, he enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class. His service records show that he was 5ft 7.5ins (1.71m) tall, with light brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.

Stoker Stewart was sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for his training, and remained there for the next eight months. He was then given his first assignment, on board the battleship HMS Sans Pareil. She became his home for the next year, during which time he was promoted to full Stoker.

Edward’s initial term of contract was for twelve years, and over that time he would serve on nine different vessels. Between voyages his shore home remained Pembroke, and he spent more than two years based there. By the summer of 1911, Edward had been promoted three times – to Stoker 1st Class in July 1906, Leading Stoker in March 1908, and Stoker Petty Officer in March 1910.

When his contract came to an end, Edward immediately re-enlisted. By this point, his records show that he had grown to 5ft 10.5ins (1.79m) tall, and had a scar on his nose.

In the autumn of 1912, Stoker Petty Officer Stewart was assigned to the troop ship HMS Tyne. She would become the ship on board which he would spend the longest part of his career, not disembarking until 31st May 1917. He transferred to HMS Fairy, a destroyer, and with the move came a promotion to Acting Chief Stoker.

Attached to the Grand Fleet, Fairy was engaged in convoy work off the east coast. Edward’s time on board would not be a lengthy one, however. On 24th December 1917, he fell overboard, and was killed. He was 37 years of age. There is little additional information about the incident, although his service papers note that “no blame was attributable to anyone.”

Edward Thomas Stewart’s body was recovered, and brought back to Kent for burial. He was laid to rest in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, not far from the base he had called home for so long.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Kent, Leading Stoker, Petty Officer, photography, Royal Navy, Stoker, story, Sussex, war

Stoker Petty Officer Henry Weller

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Stoker Petty Officer Henry Weller

Henry Weller was born on 13th January 1877 in the village of Ashurst Wood, Sussex. The second of four children, his parents were John and Mary Weller. John was a farm labourer, and the 1881 census found the family living in a cottage on Brooklands Farm in East Grinstead.

Times look to have been tough for the Weller family. By the time of the next census, John, Mary and three of their children were lodging with Hartfield family. Henry, meanwhile, was living in Deptford, Kent, with James and Susannah Weller. He was noted as being a ‘cousin’, although his exact relationship is unclear. James’ nephew Joseph Weller, was also living with them. Just fourteen years of age, Henry was working as a general labourer, and the family were living at 21 Adolphus Street.

Labouring was an irregular way to being in money, and so Henry sought out a more regular career. On 18th November 1896 he signed up to the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class. His service records show that he was 5ft 4.5ins (1.64m) tall, with brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also noted as having the letters HW tattooed on his left forearm, and shaking hands on his upper left arm.

Stoker Weller was sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for his training. He spent the next nine months split between there and HMS Wildfire – Sheerness Dockyard – learning his trade.

On 8th June 1897, Henry was assigned to the battleship HMS Victorious. Promoted to Stoker 1st Class three months after boarding, she would remain his home for the next three years. After a month aboard another battleship – HMS Revenge – he returned to Chatham.

Love blossomed and, on 8th July 1900, Henry married Alice Beldham, a dock worker’s daughter. The couple exchanged vows at All Saints’ Church, Rotherhithe, Kent, and moved in with Alice’s widowed father, George, at 12 Osprey Street. They went on to have three children: Henry, Harold and Ivy.

Newly settled, Henry seems to have voiced a preference to remain closer to home and, for the next couple of years he would remain based at HMS Pembroke. Alice relocated, and the family set up home at 51 King Edward Road, Gillingham, Kent. Close to the River Medway, the Wellers’ neighbours were all based at the docks, and, during her husband’s future absences, it is likely that Alice felt a sense of community.

After leaving HMS Pembroke, Henry was attached to the cruiser HMS Bacchante. Promoted to Leading Stoker 2nd Class, over the next six years, he would serve on three more ships, spending six-month stints back in Chatham in between assignments. In July 1903 he was promoted to Leading Stoker 1st Class, although he reverted to 2nd Class nine months later. Promoted again in June 1905, he took the rank of Stoker Petty Officer a year later.

Henry’s initial term of service came to an end in November 1908. He immediately re-enlisted, and remained in service until the spring of 1918.

By this point Stoker Petty Officer Weller had been assigned to the torpedo gunboat HMS Hebe for more than thirty months. Patrolling the North Sea coast, on 12th April, she moored at the Alexandra Dock in Hull, Yorkshire. A later inquest outlined what happened next:

Joseph Taylor, a chief petty officer, said that about 11:55pm… [Henry] and he were going from the town to their ship… Witness struck a match to light his pipe. [Henry] walked on for about two yards, and then disappeared. Witness raised the alarm, and went tot he bottom of the dry dock, into which he found [Henry] had fallen, a distance of about 50 feet. They did not know the docks, has they had only come in that morning… If he (witness) had not struck the match they would both have gone over.

[Hull Daily Mail: Wednesday 17th April 1918]

Alive, but severely concussed, Stoker Petty Officer Weller was quickly taken to a local hospital. He was operated on, but his injuries were too severe. Henry passed away on 16th April 1918: he was 41 years of age.

The body of Henry Weller was taken back to Kent for burial. He was laid to rest in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, a short walk from where Alice and their children were still living.

accident, Captain, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, Kent, Lieutenant, Middlesex, photography, Royal Air Force, Royal Engineers, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Second Lieutenant, story, Surrey, war

Captain Percy Rawlings

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Captain Percy Rawlings

Percy Townley Rawlings was born on 22nd September 1887 in Clapham, Surrey. Details of his early life are sketchy, and most of the information comes from second hand accounts. His baptism record gives his parents as Edward and Lizzie Rawlings. Edward was listed as being a gentleman, but there is no record of the family on the 1891, or 1901 census returns.

He was educated at Westminster School and Cambridge University, where he obtained honours in the Mechanical Sciences Tripos.

In 1910 he went to Woolwich Arsenal as [an] advanced workshop student, and in the following year he obtained a Commission in the Royal Engineers…

In 1912 he entered the Public Works Department of the Sudan Government, and during 1913-14 acted as engineer to the Egyptian Irrigation Service on the construction of the Blue Nile Dam.

On the outbreak of the War he was sent to France [as a Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers], in the 2nd Field Co., being transferred in the following year to the [Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve], for engineering duties with the [Royal Naval Air Service].

In 1917 he flew to Constantinople in a Handley-Page machine, and bombed the Goeben, for which he received the DSC.

[1921 Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Obituaries]

By the end of the conflict, Percy had been promoted to Captain. After the Armistice he remained involved in the Royal Air Force, and was involved in testing the rapidly changing technology of flight.

A Tarrant triplane, constructed at the Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough, was wrecked on a trial flight on Monday. The machine, which had six engines, each developing 500 horse power, after running along the ground toppled forward and seemed to bury itself in the earth. One of the pilots… Captain Rawlings, has died, and the other, Capt. Dunn, is in a very grave condition.

[Waterford Standard: Wednesday 28th May 1919]

Captain Percy Rawlings’ Tarrant triplane after the crash

Captain Dunn also died in the crash, which happened on 26th May 1919. Percy was 31 years of age when he died.

A close friend, Henry Edmunds, wrote to the Flight Magazine to express his sympathy at the loss:

As a boy, Rawlings was always interested in scientific matters, particularly photography and motors..

He was manly, open, and frank, fearless and honest, of an enquiring mind, and fond of experimenting. I remember his pre-heating paraffin vapour electrically, as a fuel for explosive engines…

It was at my house at Brighton that Rawlings met Mr. W. G. Tarrant, who was spending the week-end with me. Rawlings had just returned from the famous flight in the Handley Page to Constantinople, where he bombed the ‘Goeben.’ I remember his describing vividly his impressions of that memorable journey. If I recollect correctly, he motored down to Folkestone somewhat rapidly. He told me he believed the police were on the look-out for him for exceeding the speed-limit; but he went from Folkestone by air, proceeding to Naples. It was delightful to hear him recount that remarkable voyage. Their fears lest they should not be able to cross some of the high mountain ranges with the heavy load they were carrying, and where, had anything happened, they would have been out of the reach of all human aid. How he availed himself of a special camera for photographing portions of his trip, the results of which he feared it might be unwise to disclose at that time, so he brought the negatives back with him, and I believe they wore kept personally until after the War.

He and Mr. Tarrant were mutually attracted to each other, and discussed with much seriousness the construction of a new type of bombing-plane, which eventuated in the great Tarrant machine. Rawlings joined Tarrant shortly afterwards, and devoted all his energies to carrying on the work of design and construction. On several occasions he came down to see me, and related his experiences. He was full of confidence as to the future of his work; and invited me to take my first flight with him.

Townley Rawlings was a gallant gentleman. Those whom the gods love are taken early.

[Flight Magazine: 29th May 1919]

The speeding incident is an interesting anecdote, another similar incident recorded in a separate newspaper report:

Chauffeur Summoned for Fast Driving

Capt. Rawlings, who was killed in the Tarrant triplane accident, should have appeared as a witness yesterday in the Kingston court.

His chauffeur, Arthur B Cogger, of West Byfleet, summoned for exceeding the limit, was driving Captain Rawlings to Farnborough on Saturday, before the accident.

He said the captain told him he wanted to get along as quickly as possible as he was going to test an aeroplane. He had intended to come to court.

The summons was dismissed.

[Dublin Daily Express: Saturday 31st May 1919]

Percy Townley Rawlings was laid to rest in Highgate Cemetery, possibly close to where he or his family had been living.

accident, Bermuda, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Kent, Middlesex, photography, Private, Royal Marines, story, war

Private Alfred Reed

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Private Alfred Reed

Alfred John Reed was born in St Pancras, Middlesex, on 29th September 1865. One of twelve children, his parents were Charles and Eliza Reed. Charles was a carman, possibly working out of the nearby railway stations, and the 1871 census found the family taking rooms at 70 Aldenham Street.

Details of Alfred’s life is a little sketchy. By the time of the 1881 census he had finished his schooling and was employed as a coach painter, again probably connected to the railways. At some point shortly after this, however, he enlisted as a Private in the Royal Marine Light Infantry. It is likely that he was still a teenager when he made this move, as he seems to have lied about his age to get in – later records give his date of birth as 8th June 1863.

We next pick up Private Reed in the 1901 census. By this point, he was assigned to the floating battery HMS Terror, which was based in Bermuda, under the remit of Captain Thomas McGill.

Alfred appears to have served his contract, as by 1911 he was living at 56 Northview Road, Hornsey, Middlesex. Employed as a house painter, the census records him as being having been married to Clara Emily for nine years. This may have been for the sake of appearance, as the formal record of the couple’s marriage suggests that exchanged vows in the summer of 1914. The census showed that the couple had a son – Alfred John Reed – who was two years old.

When war broke out, Alfred was 49 years old. While over the age to formally enlist, it seems that he did re-join the Royal Marines. By the spring of 1917, he was attached to HMS Spey, an old gunboat, which served in the River Medway, close to Chatham Dockyard.

On the 7th March 1917, she was accidentally rammed by a sludge vessel carrying 1000 tons of sewage. The Spey sank in the shallow water, and one of the crew – Private Alfred Reed – was drowned. He was 51 years of age.

The body of Alfred John Reed was laid to rest in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, not far from the Royal Naval Base in which he had been helping.

The 1921 census sheds more light onto the family that Alfred had left behind.

Clara had re-married, her new husband being motor fitter George Comer. The couple had a daughter, eighteen-month-old Eileen, and George was noted as being stepfather to Alfred and Clara’s children, Alfred and Ernest (who was born in 1911).

There is another mystery, however, as the census gives the name of 18 year old Louie Reed. She may also have been Alfred and Clara’s daughter, although she is not recorded as being so on the 1911 census. She may, therefore, have been Clara’s child from a former relationship, then adopted by Alfred.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, Hampshire Regiment, history, photography, Sergeant, story, war

Serjeant Alfred Martin

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Serjeant Alfred Martin

FATAL EXPLOSION IN NEW FOREST

Inquests have been held by Mr PB Ingoldby, County Coroner, on the bodies of Sergt. S Pickett, aged 36, and Sergt. A Martin, aged 29, whose deaths occurred recently as the result of an explosion in the New Forest.

The evidence showed that Sergt. Martin was killed. Sergt. Pickett was found insensible from shock, and died five hours later in hospital. In both cases the verdict was that death took place accidentally, and that no blame was attached to anybody.

[Hampshire Independent: Saturday 3rd March 1917]

The life of Sergeant A Martin is a challenge to piece together. While no service papers remain, the few documents that are available don’t provide enough information to unpick the his details.

His entry in the Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects confirms his name as Alfred Albert Martin, and that he served in the 3rd Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment. The document also gives his beneficiary as his mother, Philaidah.

Sergeant Martin’s pension ledger card gives his mother’s name as Louisa Martin, of 64 Bedford Street, Kingstone Road, Portsmouth. It also provides details of a brother, Sergeant Arthur Theodore of the Devonshire Regiment, who also died during the conflict.

The newspaper report suggests Alfred would have been born in around 1888, but there is no definite evidence of him, Philaidah/Louisa or Arthur in census records from 1891 to 1911.

Alfred’s Medal Roll Index Card confirms that he served in the Balkans, and arrived there on 25th April 1915. It gives his rank only as Sergeant, which would suggest that he may have had some military background before the First World War.

Sadly, there are too many pieces to the jigsaw of Sergeant Martin’s life missing to be able to build a better picture. Killed by an accident, he was laid to rest in Lyndhurst Cemetery, not far from where he died.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Flight Cadet, Great War, history, photography, Royal Air Force, story, war, Wiltshire

Flight Cadet Ernest Tracey

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Flight Cadet Ernest Tracey

Flt-Cadet Ernest Osborn Tracey, RAF, who died on Friday, the result of injuries sustained through a collision in the air when undergoing his final training, was the only son of Rev. HF and Mrs Tracey, of Dartmouth. He was born in Oct. 1899, at St Saviour’s Vicarage, of which church his father was vicar for 23 years, retiring from the living in 1913 in order to take up clerical duties in New Zealand. Mr Tracey was educated at Blundell’s, where he held a house master’s scholarship. When he left in the middle of last year he was the winner of the Coles’ prize for science; was one of the shooting VIII, of which he had his cap and colours; a member of the Upper Sixth, the OTC, and he had also won the first prize for drawing. On leaving Blundell’s he obtained a cadetship at Woolwich, and was transferred to the RAF.

[Western Morning News: Tuesday 4th June 1918]

Ernest Osborn Tracey was born in Dartmouth, Devon, on 25th October 1899, and was baptised in his father’s church six weeks later. The younger of two children to Reverend Henry and Alice Tracey, he gave up his schooling to enlist in the Royal Flying Corps on 12th November 1917.

When the Royal Air Force was formed the following April, Flight Cadet Tracey automatically transferred across. Training to be a reconnaissance pilot, Ernest would have cut a dashing figure, standing 6ft 1in (1.85m) tall. He was based at Yatesbury Airfield in Wiltshire, and was learning to fly a BE2, twin seater biplane.

At 8:30pm on 31st May, his aircraft collided with another, sending Ernest’s machine spinning into a nosedive. He crashed into the ground and was killed instantly.

The body of Ernest Osborn Tracey was taken back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Clement’s Church, Dartmouth.

Ernest’s will gave his mother, Alice, as his beneficiary. The newspaper report suggests that Henry had travelled to New Zealand to tend a new flock there, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records him as being “Chaplain to the Forces” and Vicar of Dartmouth.

It certainly seems that any time spent in New Zealand was limited. By the time of the 1921 census, Reverend Tracey had found a new posting, in the Staffordshire village of Gentleshaw. The same census return found Alice staying with their daughter, Rosamond, and her family, in Totnes, Devon.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Cook, Devon, Great War, history, photography, Royal Naval Reserve, Scotland, story, Trimmer, war

Trimmer Cook Douglas Ferguson

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Trimmer Cook Douglas Ferguson

At Dartmouth on Saturday, Mr AM Dawson held an inquest on Douglass [sic] Davidson Mitchell Ferguson, cook, aged 30, of a Government trawler, whose body was recovered from the boat float the previous afternoon.

TG Elliott, of the Britannia Inn, said deceased had one drop of whiskey at his house on Thursday.

W Bursey, seaman, said he saw deceased at the King’s Arms Hotel, the same evening. He was very quiet and chatted with others.

Frank Lavers, coal lumper, said he thought he saw Ferguson at 9.50 on his way to the Embankment. Deceased asked the time and spoke quite rationally.

After evidence as to the recovery of the body, and Dr GM Soper’s evidence that the death was due to drowning, an open verdict was returned.

Lieut. PN Taylor [Royal Naval Reserve], commander of the vessel to which deceased had belonged, said Dartmouth was the most dangerous place for the embarkation at night that he had visited, owing to the restricted lighting. He thought rails should eb placed not only around the Boat Float, but along the whole of the Embankment.

Members of the jury agreed that lights in the vicinity of the Boat Float were inadequate, and the jury added a rider to their verdict urging the authorities to provide adequate lighting as advised by the Town Council, for the benefit of persons embarking in the vicinity of the Boat Float, and with a view to preventing further tragedies.

[Western Times: Tuesday 29th February 1916]

Douglas Davidson Ferguson was born in Stirling, Scotland, on 28th August 1896. One of four children, his parents were Andrew and Mary Ferguson. There is little information available about his early life, unfortunately, but it is clear that he enlisted in the Royal Naval Reserve on the 6th September 1915.

Assigned the role of Trimmer Cook, Douglas’s records show that he was 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall, with brown eyes and a pale complexion. He was also noted as having a tattoo of a dancing girl on his left arm.

Douglas was initially assigned to the cruiser HMS Pactolus, and travelled from Scotland to Devon, where the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport would become his base. He remained stationed there for the next few months, working on ships’ galleys as they patrolled out the Channel coastline. It was during one of these voyages that he fell into the River Dart and drowned.

It would seem that Douglas Davidson Ferguson’s family were unable to cover the cost of taking his body back to Scotland for burial. Instead, he was laid to rest in the graveyard of Dartmouth’s St Clement’s Church.

Able Seaman, accident, Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, Kent, Leading Seaman, Ordinary Seaman, Petty Officer, photography, Royal Navy, Scotland, story, war

Petty Officer 1st Class James Brett

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Petty Officer 1st Class James Brett

The early life of James Watt Brett is lost in the mists of time. He was born on 25th November 1880 in the Scottish village of Fochabers and when he finished his schooling, he found work as an apprentice draper. He sought bigger and better things, however, and, on 25th August 1896, he joined the Royal Navy.

At just fifteen years old, James was too young to formally enlist. He was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class, however, and dispatched to the training ship HMS Caledonia, for his basic instruction. He remained on board until October 1897, by which point he had been promoted to Boy 1st Class.

Over the next year, James served on two cruisers – HMS Blenheim and HMS Dido. His shore base became HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, and he would return here time and again in between assignments.

It was while James was serving on Dido that he came of age. Now given the rank of Ordinary Seaman, his records show that he was 5ft 1in (1.54m) tall, with fair hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. James would remain on board Dido until January 1902, by which time he had been promoted to the role of Able Seaman.

Over the initial twelve years of his service, James would spend time on eight vessels, and travel the world. His dedication to the navy is clear, although his career was not without its hiccups.

In April 1904, James was promoted again, to the rank of Leading Seaman. The following January he was made Petty Office 2nd Class, although this new role only lasted for a couple of weeks, before he was knocked back down to Able Seaman.

In April 1909, he was again made Leading Seaman and, promoted to Petty Officer 2nd Class once more in January 1910. By October that year, he had risen to Petty Officer 1st Class, by which point his initial contract came to an end.

James immediately re-enlisted, and retained his rank for the remainder of his naval career. At some point after the 1911 census, he married a woman called Annie, and the couple seem to have been based at Burnt Oak Terrace, Gillingham, Kent, although there is no further information about Petty Officer Brett’s new wife.

James seemed to have become more shore-based after his marriage, and he served at HMS Actaeon in Portsmouith, Hampshire, and HMS Pembroke and HMS Wildfire in Kent. By the summer of 1917, he was attached to the Dover Patrol, and assigned to HMS Attentive.

On 3rd March 1918, Petty Officer Brett’s service records note that he was accidentally killed by falling into [a] dry dock at Royal Albert Docks. No further information is available, although it is possible that the accident took place in London. He was 37 years of age.

The body of James Watt Brett was taken back to Kent for burial. He was laid to rest in the military section of the Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, not far from where his widow still lived.

Able Seaman, accident, Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, Kent, Leading Seaman, Ordinary Seaman, photography, Royal Navy, story, war

Leading Seaman Reuben Pearce

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Leading Seaman Reuben Pearce

In the military section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, is a headstone marking the grave of Leading Seaman Reuben William Pearce. Little information is available about his early life, although later records suggest that he was born on 30th January 1875 in Plymouth, Devon.

When he completed his schooling, Reuben found work as a hawker. He had his heart set on bigger and better things, however, and, on 3rd June 1890, he signed up to the Royal Navy. Just fifteen years of age, he was too young to formally enlist, but he was accepted with the rank of Boy 2nd Class, and sent off to HMS Impregnable, the training ship based in nearby Devonport, for his induction.

Over the next two-and-a-half years, Boy Pearce learnt his trade. On 4th June 1891, he was promoted to the rank of Boy 1st Class, and the following February he was assigned to his first ship, the corvette HMS Boadicea. It was while he was on board the corvette that Reuben came of age, and he was officially inducted into the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman. His service records show that he was 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a ruddy complexion. He was noted as having an anchor and his initials tattooed on his left arm, with another anchor tattoo on his right.

Reuben enlisted for a twelve-year term of service. During this time, he served on nine vessels, returning to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in between voyages. He had a mixed career, and, on 1st February 1894, was promoted to Able Seaman. In January 1896, he spent three days in cells, for an unrecorded offence.

In January 1900, whole aboard the gunvessel HMS Rambler, Reuben was promoted to Leading Seaman. Within a day, however, he was back in the cells, where he spent the next 72hrs. This led to an immediate demotion, and he found himself back as an Able Seaman.

When his contract came to an end, Reuben immediately re-enlisted, and he would go on to serve for another thirteen years. In July 1906, he was promoted to Leading Seaman once again, and seemed to have learned the error of his ways, retaining the rank until his passing.

On 15th September 1916, Leading Seaman Pearce was mentioned in despatches. for his service during the Battle of Heligoland Bight. The ship on which he was serving at the time, the battlecruiser HMS Tiger, was heavily involved.

Reuben remained on the Tiger for three-and-a-half years, and during this time, his valour was recognised again, when he was awarded the Medaglia di bronzo al valor militare (Bronze Medal for Military Valour) by the King of Italy. Again, details are unclear, but he was again mentioned in despatches for his service.

By the spring of 1918, Leading Seaman Pearce was billeted on board HMS Hindustan, which was being used as barracks ahead of a planned raised on Zeebrugge and Ostend. On 13th April an accident occurred, and he received a gun shot wound to his leg. This fractured his femur, and, despite being rushed to the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, Kent – not far from the dockyard where the Hindustan was moored – he passed away from his injuries later that day. Full details of the incident are unclear, but he was 43 years of age.

Reuben William Pearce was laid to rest in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, not far from the port which had served as his final base.