Signalman Samuel Stuart Honey of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve was born on the 17th of December 1897, in Talland, Cornwall, one of two children born to John and Fanny Honey (née Pearce). Samuel’s father was a widower when he married Fanny Pearce in 1897. He had been married to his first wife, Elizabeth Truscott, for 31 years when she died in 1893, at the age of 51. John and Elizabeth had six children.

Samuel’s father had been a master blacksmith for most of his life but when the census was taken on the 31st of March 1901 he was working as a refreshment house keeper. The family were living at 21 Chapel St., East Stonehouse, Devon. Samuel was 3 and his younger brother Wilfred was 1 year old. His half brother James was home on leave from his job as armourer in the Navy.

In 1911 at census time Samuel was with his brother Wilfred and his mother, who was working as a boarding house keeper, at Fore St., Looe, Cornwall. His father, recorded as a retired blacksmith, was staying with his daughter Milicant and her family back in East Stonehouse..

Before he was drafted to the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Samuel worked as a teacher in the local school in Looe. He was drafted on the 3rd of June 1916 and had spent his first six months in training before boarding the Laurentic for passage to another ship. 

“Official notification has been received of the death of Stewart Honey, son of the late J. H. Honey and Mrs Honey of Looe. Deceased was on board H. M. S. Laurentic on his way to join another ship on a foreign station. This was the first voyage, he having just been drafted from the Crystal Palace, where he had been in training. Prior to joining the navy he was a teacher in Looe Council School. He was home on leave last Sunday week, and presided at the organ at the Wesleyan Church, which he had frequently played before leaving home. The notification stated that his body was at Buncrana, on the Irish Coast. Great sympathy is felt for his bereaved mother”.
Western Morning News – Wednesday 31 January 1917 

Samuel Stuart Honey is buried in St Mura’s churchyard Fahan, County Donegal.

Sources
Census Census Returns of England and Wales 1901 and 1911. The National Archives of the UKNational Archives  – Royal Naval Service RecordsGeneral Register Office England and Wales  General Record office UK www.gro.gov.uk
http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk