William Henry Beadle was born in Heybridge, Essex, on 23rd April 1870. The youngest of three children his parents were William and Sophia Beadle. William Sr was a waterman-turned-labourer, and the young family lived with Sophia’s parents.

When Sophia died in 1875, her widow and their children remained with his in-laws. William Sr died in 1887, and by the time of the 1891 census, his son was living with his now widowed grandmother. The document notes that she was a pauper, but he was a moulder in the local iron works.

William sought bigger and better things and, on 13th August 1891, he enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class. His service records show that, as 21 years of age, he was 5ft 8ins (1.72m) tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.

Stoker Beadle was initially sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for his training. He would spend the next six months split between there and HMS Wildfire, a shore establishment downriver at Sheerness.

In 1892, William spent six months on board the troop ship HMS Tyne. He returned to Chatham in July of that year, and was promoted to Stoker 1st Class. Over the course of the next eleven years, he would go on to serve on four ships, each time returning to his base port, HMS Pembroke.

William’s service record is pretty much mark free. He was confined to cells for seven days in October 1895, although his offence s unclear. In April 1896 he was promoted to Leading Stoker 2nd Class, and made Leading Stoker 1st Class three years later. In December 1902, while on board the cruiser HMS Diana, William was promoted again, to Acting Chief Stoker, and the following August, his initial contract of service came to an end.

By this point William was a married man. He married Clara Walford in Rochford, Essex, and, while the couple did not go on to have children, there is little additional information about her.

William re-enlisted as soon as his initial twelve-year contract came to an end. In December 1903 he was promoted to Chief Stoker, and he remained at this rank until he war formally retired on 16th August 1913. He had spent more than two decades in the Royal Navy ,and travelled the world: the 1911 census recorded him as one of the crew of HMS Lancaster, moored in Malta.

Chief Stoker Beadle’s time away from the Royal Navy was not to be lengthy and, when war broke out less than a year later, he was called upon once more. He spent nine months back at HMS Pembroke, before being assigned to the new cruiser HMS Calliope. She would be William’s home for the nearly three years, and it was not until March 1918 that he came back to shore.

William’s return to Chatham seemed to coincide with a downturn in his health. He was admitted to the town’s Royal Naval Hospital with nephritis, and this is what would take his life. He died on 8th March 1918: he was 47 years of age.

William Henry Beadle was laid to rest in the military section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, not far from the naval base he had called home for so long.

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