William James Cleverton Hoyle, stoker, Royal Naval Reserve, was born in Plymouth on the 20th February 1881 the second of six children born to William Cleverton and Catherine Hoyle (née Hopper). His parents were both natives of Plymouth. His mother Catherine was a  stonemason’s daughter and his father a ship’s stoker. His parents married in Plymouth in 1878.

In the 1881 census Catherine was at 24 Lower Street, next to the harbour in Plymouth, with her sons Richard, age 2, and William who was just 6 weeks old. Her husband was at sea, on HMS Pheonix, berthed at Port Royal, Jamaica, the headquarters of the British Royal Navy in the Caribbean.

In 1891 Catherine and the children were still living at 24 Lower street.  William Cleverton Hoyle senior was again at sea, stationed on HMS Undaunted. Launched on 25 November 1886, Undaunted was one of seven Orlando-class armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1880s and served two commissions on the China Station.

William’s father died in 1900, age 50. In the 1901 census 18 Batter street,  Plymouth, Catherine is working as a charwoman and looking after four of her six children. Her son James was away on the training brig Liberty, moored in Plymouth and William was at home, working as a dock labourer. His mother died in 1907.

At the time of the 1911 census William was living alone at 50 Woolster St., Plymouth and working as a general labourer. He enrolled in the Royal Naval Reserve on the 29th of September 1914 and was at HMS Vivid, the naval barracks at Devonport, throughout October and November 1914 before being reassigned to HMS Albatross. HMS Albatross was a C class destroyer which served with the Seventh Destroyer Flotilla on the Humber from 1914-1918. 

From March to September 1915 William was with HMS Devonshire. Assigned to the Grand Fleet in mid-1914 as the Navy mobilised for war, Devonshire spent much of its time with the Grand Fleet reinforcing the patrols near the Shetland and Faeroe Islands and the Norwegian coast. The ship was refitted in September 1914 and again in February 1915. Despite numerous sorties with the main body of the Grand Fleet, Devonshire did not see combat. 

October – November 1915 William was at HMS Vivid and Vivid II, the Stokers and Engine Room Artificers School in Devonport. On November 17th he deserted after being assigned to HMS Lion. He was reinstated on October 18th 1916.  On Dec 24th William was assigned to Vivid 2 for training and then in January 1917 embarked on the Laurentic for passage to his next assignment on HMS Devonshire. 

His body was never recovered. He is remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.

Sources:-
Census Census Returns of England and Wales 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1911. The National Archives of the UKNational Archives  – Royal Naval Service Records
General Register Office England and Wales  www.gro.gov.uk
The British Newspaper Archive http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
The National Museum, Royal Navy http://www.nmrn.org.uk/research/service-record-abbreviations
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_HMS_Albatross_1898.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Vivid_(shore_establishment_1890)