Walter Griffin was born on 15th December 1886 in Woolwich, Kent. Details of his early life are lost to time, but, by the time of the 1901 census, he was working as a cooper’s mate at a cement factory in Higham, Kent.
Walter sought bigger and better things for himself, and, on 19th June 1907, he enlisted in the Royal Navy as Cook’s Mate 2nd Class. His service records confirm that he was 5ft 4ins (1.62m) tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.
Walter was initially sent just down the coast to the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for his training. He remained there for nine months, and was promoted to Cook’s Mate 1st Class for his service.
In January 1908, he was given his first posting, on board HMS Wildfire, and, over the next nine years, he served on a further four ships, returning to Chatham in between postings. Walter was obviously dedicated to the work he was doing: in January 1910 he was promoted to Leading Cook’s Mate, and by 1917, he was promoted again, to the ran of Ship’s Cook.
This promotion coincided with a transfer to what would be his last assignment, on board HMS Racoon. This Beagle-class destroyer patrolled the waters between Scotland and Northern Ireland, and he spent the winter of 1917/18 on board.
On 9th January 1918, there were storm conditions off the Irish coast: high seas and blizzard limited limited vision. At 2am, the Racoon struck rocks, and foundered: in the treacherous conditions, all hands were lost. Shio’s Cook Griffin was 31 years of age.
Walter Griffin’s body washed ashore near the village of Ballintoy, Country Antrim, the following day. He was laid to rest in the parish church, next to two other crew members, Ordinary Seaman Frank Green and Stoker 2nd Class Frederick Sarell.
Frederick Clifford Sarell was born on 6th July 1899, one of six children to James and Theresa. James was a general labourer from East London, and the family were born and brought up in West Ham, Essex.
The Sarell family were beset by tragedy: Frederick’s oldest brother, James, died in 1903, at the age of 23, while James Sr passed away three years later. By the time of the 1911 census, Theresa was raising her five remaining children in a small house in Fife Road, Canning Town, with her oldest three children bringing in some money to support the family,
In 1913, another of Frederick’s brothers, George, passed away, and the following year his oldest sister, Theresa Jr, also died. By the summer of 1917, with war raging across Europe, Frederick stepped up to play his part. It is unclear whether his motives were to support his mother, or because he was conscripted, but either way he enlisted in the Royal Navy.
Frederick had been working as a dock labourer when he signed up. He Employed as a Stoker 2nd Class, his naval records show that he was 5ft 6.5ins (1.69m) tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. He was noted as having a scar on his right knee, a distinguishing mark that would tragically help to identify his body before the year was out.
Stoker Sarell was initially sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for his training. On 10th October 1917, he was given his first posting, on board the destroyer HMS Racoon, which patrolled the seas between Ireland and Scotland.
Frederick was on board when, on 9th January 1918, the Racoon struck rocks off the coast of Northern Ireland in heavy seas and blizzard conditions. All of the crew – more than 90 men – were lost. Stoker 2nd Class Sarell was just eighteen years old when he died: he had been in the Royal Navy for less than six months.
The body of Frederick Clifford Sarell washed ashore near Ballintoy, County Antrim. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of the village’s church next to two other crew members, Ordinary Seaman Frank Green and Ship’s Cook Walter Griffin.
Frank Ernest Green was born in Stratford, Essex on 14th November 1889. One of nine children, his parents were printer’s compositor John Green and his wife, Susan. The family were raised in Leytonstone and, by the time of the 1911 census, they were living in a house in Elsham Road.
Frank found work as a clerk for a financial company when he finished his schooling. On 31st August 1912, he married sailor’s daughter Charlotte Greenland, who was four years his senior. The couple settled in Gibbon Road, Peckham, Surrey, where Frank continued his work.
When war broke out, Frank was called upon to play his part. On 3rd January 1917, he enlisted in the Royal Navy for the duration of the war. His service records show that he was 5ft 6.5ins (1.69m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.
Ordinary Seaman Green was initially sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for training. He spent short periods of time on two ships before being assigned to HMS Racoon, a Beagle-class destroyer,
Initially patrolling the Mediterranean, by the time Frank joined the crew the Racoon she was part of the Second Destroyer Flotilla, based from Northern Ireland. In January 1918, she struck harsh weather:
HMS Racoon, Lieut. George LM Napier RN, in command, struck some rocks off the north coast of Ireland at about 2am on the 9th [January], and subsequently foundered with all hands.
Nine of the crew had been left behind at her last port of call, and these are the sole survivors.
Seventeen bodies have been picked up by patrol craft, and are being buried at Rath Mullan. Five more bodies have been washed ashore, and are being buried locally.
All the next of kin have been informed.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette – Monday 14 January 1918
Ordinary Seaman Frank Ernest Green was one of those to be washed ashore. He was just 28 years of age. He was laid to rest in the peaceful and picturesque graveyard of Ballintoy Church, County Antrim, not far from where he had come to land. He was buried next to two other crew members, Ship’s Cook Walter Griffin and Stoker 2nd Class Frederick Sarell.
On Saturday last an inquest was held at the Seaman’s Institute on the body of Gunner Wm. Moore, RNTS.
Mrs Brennan, sister of the deceased, stated that he was 43 years of age, and lived when off duty with her at Somerville, Seacombe, Cheshire. He joined the Royal Marine Light Infantry over 20 years ago.
Mr R Sussex Langford, Lloyd’s agent, stated that he saw deceased on landing. He help to get him into a cart, but found he was too ill to travel that way, so he had him put on an ambulance and taken to the Royal National Mission for Deep Sea Fishermen, and immediately sent for the doctor. Deceased was semi-conscious and very sick. He was a gunner from a torpedoed ship. Deceased died on Thursday [25th July 1918] at 6 o’clock.
Dr Sargent stated that he was called on the 23rd to see deceased, and found him semi-conscious, complaining of great pain in the abdomen and vomiting. He lay in that condition until the 25th, when death took place. The cause of death was acute traumatic peritonitis, the result of injuries received by the explosion of an enemy torpedo.
[Newquay Express and Cornwall County Chronicle – Friday 02 August 1918]
Other than the details outlined in the newspaper report, little concrete information is available about the life of William Moore. The name does crop up in the 1891 census in Seacombe, Cheshire, and, if this relates to Gunner Moore, then he was one of five children to widowed lithographer Margaret Moore. Beyond that one census, however, it is not possible to find any more specific details.
William was on board the steam ship SS Anna Sophie in the summer of 1918, which was sailing from Rouen to South Wales, On 23rd July, she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-55 off Trevose Head, Cornwall. The Anna Sofie was sunk, Gunner Moore was one of those who subsequently passed from their injuries.
William Moore’s sister may not have been able to pay for her brother to be brought back to Cheshire for burial. Instead, he was laid to rest in Padstow Cemetery, and shares his resting place with another member of the crew, Lance Corporal William Whitmore.
William’s headstone reads: “In honoured memory and grateful remembrance of William Moor [sic] who lies here, and all others who in the Great War 1914-1918, perished at the enemies hands off this coast. RIP.”
William Henry Whitmore was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, on 21st May 1875. One of nine children, his parents were William and Mary Whitmore. He was not the first of their sons to be called William – a brother born nine years previously was also called by that name, but he died when just a few months old.
William Sr was a journeyman joiner, and seems not to have played much of a part in his family’s life. The 1881 and 1891 census returns found Mary raising her children as the head of the household, and this seems to have paid a toll. By the time of the 1901 census, she was one of 150 patients at the North Staffordshire Infirmary in Stoke-on-Trent. She died in 1907, at the age of 67 years old.
William Jr, meanwhile, had been making a life for himself. On 28th August 1895, he enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, set on a career at sea. His service records confirm that he was 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. The document also highlights two tattoos on his left forearm, one of a crossed heart.
Private Whitmore was sent to Walmer in Kent for his initial training. He spent nine months on site, before moving to what would become his shore base, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth. Over the twelve years of his contact, he would go on to serve on six ships, each time returning to the Hampshire port.
On 18th February 1904, William married Margaret Cook. She was the daughter of a farm labourer from Somerset, but the couple wed in the parish church of Eastry, near the Royal Marines base in Walmer.
William’s term of service came to an end in September 1907, and he was placed into the Royal Fleet Reserve. He and Margaret, together with daughter Kathleen, settled in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. Their home was a small terraced cottage on Salisbury Road, close to the train station. William had found employment as a labourer in a blast furnace not far from home. A second child, daughter Nora, was born in 1910, and the family was complete.
Private Whitmore was called into service once more when war was declared. After initially returning to Portsmouth, he was assigned to the converted liner HMS Carmania, spending nearly two years on board. After a brief spell back on dry land, William found himself assigned to the steam ship SS Anna Sophie.
On 23rd July 1918, the ship was en route from Rouen to South Wales, when she was torpedoed the German submarine U-55 off Trevose Head, Cornwall. The Anna Sofie was sunk, and one member of the crew died. Others subsequently passed from their injuries, including the now Lance Corporal Whitmore. He was 43 years of age.
William Henry Whitmore’s body was recovered, but his family were unable to cover the cost of bringing him back to Northamptonshire for burial. Instead, he was laid to rest in Padstow Cemetery, in a shared grave with fellow crewman Gunner William Moore.
Lance Corporal William Whitmore (from ancestry.co.uk)
Angus MacIver was born in 1887 in the isolated hamlet of Geshader (Geisiadar), on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. His parents were Murdo and Marion MacIver, and he was one of seven children.
Detail of Angus’ early life are a challenge to uncover. It would seem that he worked with boats when he completed whatever schooling he undertook. Given Geshader’s proximity to the coast, it is likely that Murdo was a fisherman, and that his three sons – Angus included – followed suit.
By the time war broke out in 1914, Angus had joined the Canadian Merchant Navy. He held the rank of Sailor: records suggest that he would have been an Able Seaman, had he been in the Royal Navy.
In the spring of 1918, Sailor MacIver was serving on board the SS Tagona, a Canadian steamer, ferrying goods across the Atlantic. The ship was en route for Glasgow, having sailed from Bilbao, Spain, and, on 16th May she was passing close to the North Cornish coast. Five miles (8km) from Trevose Head, Tagona was torpedoed by the German submarine U-55, and sank. Eight crew members, including Angus, drowned. He was 31 years of age.
The body of Sailor Angus McIver washed ashore in the Camel Estuary: the remains were identifiable, but his family were unable to bring him back to Lewis. Instead, he was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Menefreda’s Church in St Minver, Cornwall.
William John Hamilton was born in Urney, County Tyrone, in 1870. One of ten children, his parents of John and Bella. Little further information is available about his early life, but on 29th September 1895, William married Sarah McLaughlin.
The couple set up home in Ballycolman Lane, Strabane, and had at least six children. William worked as a shop porter, while Sarah kept house for the family.
By the time of the 1911 census, William was working as a general labourer. War was brewing over the continent by this point, however, and when hostilities were declared, he stepped up to play his part.
Full details of William’s service are lost to time. What documents remain, however, confirm that he enlisted no earlier than June 1917, and that he joined the Royal Engineers as a Pioneer. He was attached to an Inland Water Transport unit and sent to Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, for training.
Pioneer Hamilton’s Pension Ledger Card provides a tantalising insight into his passing. On 25th December 1917, he died from “suffocation from submersion accidentally drowned while on active service.” There is no other documentation to expand on what happened, and no contemporary newspaper report on his passing. William was 47 years of age.
It would appear that Sarah was unable to afford the cost of bringing her late husband’s body back to Ireland for burial. Instead, William John Hamilton was laid to rest in Amesbury Cemetery, close to where he had passed away.
Thomas Collins was born in the Blackfriars area of Glasgow on 12th March 1877. His was a common name, and it is a challenge to find identify much about his early life. He did, however, have a brother called Andrew, and, when he finished his schooling, he found work as a carpenter and joiner.
Thomas sought new opportunities and, on 21st January 1899, he enlisted in the Royal Navy. Working as a Carpenter’s Crew, he was initially assigned to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Barracks in Devonport, Devon. His service records show that he was 5ft 5ins (1,65m) tall, with dark brown hair, grey eyes and a dark complexion.
Devonport was to become Thomas’ base, but, over the twelve years of his initial navy contract, he went on to serve on eight separate vessels. He records suggest that he was good at what he did, and his moved up through the ranks as a result. However, he seemed to have another side to him, which occasionally revealed itself.
Thomas was promoted to Leading Carpenter’s Crew on 19th December 1901, but what had been noted as a very good character seemed to take a downturn at this point. He was committed to cells for two weeks in January/February 1903, while serving on HMS Highflyer, with an incident leading to his demotion to Carpenter’s Crew once more. This also appears to match with a drop in his character: noted as Very Good in his reviews of 1899 to 1901, he slipped to Good in 1902 and fair in 1903 and 1904.
His imprisonment seems to have been the shake up Thomas needed. From here on in, his character was consistently recorded as Very Good and, by August 1909, he had regained the rank of Leading Carpenter’s Crew. There was, however, a serious blip in this good behaviour, noted in his service records:
This man was tried for the manslaughter of Richard Ernest Bell, blacksmith, on [illegible date], who died from injuries received in a fight with Collins on HMS Cambridge. Verdict of Jury at Assizes: “Not guilty”. Judge in summing up stated that he considered Collins was technically guilty of manslaughter.
Thomas had been on the mess deck of HMS Cambridge on 26th August 1905, when he became embroiled in a fight with Petty Officer Bell. Medical evidence showed that Bell died as a result of a blow behind his ear, the punch delivered by Leading Carpenter’s Crew Collins. While it seems likely that he unintentionally caused the Petty Officer’s death, he was cleared by the jury, and remained assigned to HMS Cambridge until November 1905.
Thomas’ initial term of service came to an end on 20th January 1911, and he had no hesitation in re-enlisting. On board HMS St George at the time, his new contract brought with it the rank of Shipwright 2nd Class. Over the next five years, he served on four more ships, and rose a rank to Shipwright 1st Class.
On 8th January 1916, Thomas married Flora Peacock. Little information is available about here, although the wedding took place in Harwich, Essex. Thomas was serving on board the cruiser HMS Conquest by this point, and was based out of the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent.
On Tuesday evening, March 28th, a cutter belonging to HMS Conquest, which was taking forty liberty men off to the ship, was caught in a blizzard and nothing was seen or heard of her again till the morning, when she was found cast up on shore many miles away. All hands were drowned.
The cutter was being towed out by a steam-launch. The hawser broke and the boat drifted away ad capsized.
Westerham Herald: Saturday 8th April 1916
Shipwright 1st Class Thomas Collins was one of those lost from the cutter. He had not long turned 39 years of age. He was laid to rest in the Roman Catholic section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, not far from the dockyard at which he had been based.
Thomas’ headstone incorrectly gives his surname as Collings.
Granville Horrocks was born in Heywood, Lancashire in around 1872. His early life is difficult to piece together, but by the time of the 1901 census, he was living with his widowed mother, Jane Horrocks, and his wife of a year, Mary.
The family were living in Rock Street, Oldham, where Granville was working as a labourer in an ironworks. Mary was also working, and was employed as a cotton reeler in one of the local mills.
Granville and Mary went on to have five children – Mary, Lilian, Ellen, Wilfred and Jessie. The 1911 census records the family living in two rooms in Bloom Street, Oldham. Granville was employed as an iron turner in the local factory, while Mary remained at home to look after the house and the family.
Conflict broke out in Europe in the summer of 1914, and Granville opted to serve his King and his Country. Sadly, full details of his service are lost to time, but it is clear that he had enlisted in the Manchester Regiment by the autumn of 1915. Private Horrocks was assigned to the 10th Battalion, which saw active service at Gallipoli, and it is likely that Granville spent time in that part of the Mediterranean.
Private Horrocks’ army pension ledger provides details of his passing. The date was 5th April 1916, and the cause given was “suicide by drowning whilst of unsound mind due to disease contracted on [active service].” Little additional information is available about the incident and, surprisingly, there is nothing reported in contemporary newspapers.
Granville was based near Wylye, Wiltshire, when he took his life. He was around 44 years old at the time. Finances must have limited Mary’s options regarding his burial: rather than being taken back to Oldham, he was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Mary’s Church in the village where he passed.
The short life of Thomas Besley is a challenge to unpick. He was born in Bampton, Devon, early in 1896, one of ten children to farm labourer Steven Besley and his wife, Fanny.
Steven’s work took the family around the region, and the 1901 census found the Besleys living on Cordings Farm in Wiveliscombe, Somerset. The document records Thomas as being 5 years of age, sharing the accommodation with his parents and six of his siblings.
The 1911 census records Thomas working as a live-in labourer at Manor Farm in Huish Champflower, a village just three miles outside of Wiveliscombe.
Meanwhile, his family are still recorded as living in Wiveliscombe itself, Steven and Fanny residing with four of their children. Now, however, another Thomas is listed with them: seven years old, he is the only child of their oldest son, William and his late wife, Elizabeth. She had died in 1904, around the same time as young Thomas’ birth, and it would appear that Steven and Fanny adopted their grandson (he is listed on the census as their ‘son’). William went on to marry again, but his new wife, a widow called Hannah, had seven children from her first marriage. The couple would go on to have a son of their own, but it was a crowded house, and so Thomas lived permanently with his grandparents.
The older Thomas Besley signed up almost as soon as war was declared in 1914. While his service records are sparse, he joined the 3rd/5th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry.
What can be determined from the records is that Private Besley drowned. His death certificate – which mistakenly records his surname as Beasley – confirms that Thomas’ body was found in the River Tone in Taunton on 16th February 1915, and the cause of death noted as ‘found drowned’.
While research for Besley draws a number of blanks about the circumstances of his death, the misspelled surname featured in a contemporary newspaper report:
On Tuesday afternoon, around four o’clock, MJ Chapman… while passing the Locks at Firepool, Priory, Taunton, observed what appeared to be the body of a man floating in the swirl caused by the overflow of the Locks into the pool. The police were immediately informed… and proceeded to the spot with the ambulance and recovered the body of a man, dressed in khaki uniform. The body had evidently been in the water for a considerable time and was much decomposed. The deceased was subsequently identified as Thomas Beasley, son of Mr Stephen Beasley, of Langley Marsh, Wiveliscombe. He was a private in the 5th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, and was 40 years of age. He had been in ill-health for a considerable period, and latterly had been depressed. He disappeared on January 16th, and despite all enquiries his whereabouts remained a mystery until Tuesday…
[At the inquest] Stephen Beasley, a farm labourer… gave evidence of [Thomas’] identification. He said that his son had lately been ill. Three months ago he was taken from Salisbury Plain to Bristol Hospital, where he remained for about a month. After his discharge from Hospital he went home, where he remained about a fortnight, and for the last two months he had been quartered at Taunton. In this time witness had seen his son twice, but he could not say that he had been well since he came out of Hospital. He was low-spirited, but never told witness that anything troubled him.
Florence Beasley… sister of deceased, said she last saw her brother about a month ago in Taunton. He seemed very strange and low and would not speak unless spoken to first. He seemed to be troubled, and would not shake hands with her when she left him. He seemed to be always ‘studying.’ There was no suicidal tendency in the family…
Captain Burridge stated that deceased was sent to hospital from the Plain about September. About the middle of October he had a wire from Bristol Infirmary informing him that he was dangerously ill and dying. However, he got over that, and he was discharged on October 28th. He was sent for 22 days’ furlough to his home and returned to duty on November 22nd. Ever since that time he had not been in the best of health, but nothing had been noticed of his mental condition. He believed at one time there was a talk of his being discharged as medically unfit. He disappeared on January 16th.
The Coroner asked [how] long deceased had been in the service, and witness answered that he joined on June 1st, 1913. His complaint when removed to Bristol Hospital was double pneumonia.
On the suggestion of the Coroner, the jury returned an open verdict.
Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser: Wednesday 24th February 1915
In addition to the Besley/Beasley surname, the report features a couple more discrepancies. Thomas’ father’s name is given as Stephen, when it was Steven. The deceased is also recorded as being 40 years old when he died, when he was actually half that age.
Thomas Besley was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Andrew’s Church in Wiveliscombe. It gives his age as 17 years old and the date of his death as 16th February 1917.
Death and Service 