Seaman Gunner Christopher Doyle RNR, the son of Michael and Catherine Doyle (née Davies) was born in Liverpool on the 9th of December 1893. He was the youngest of 11 children. Both of his parents were born and grew up in Liverpool. At the time the census was taken in 1901 the family were living…
Author: harrykerr
Ernest Frederick Ball
Ernest Frederick Ball, born in Plymouth on the 17th of June 1889, was the eldest of three children born to Frederick William and Annie Ball (née May). Frederick William was from Veryan in Cornwall and Annie was from Falmouth. The UK, Royal Navy and Royal Marine War Graves Roll, 1914-1919, records Ernest as a Storehouseman…
James Highfield Edney
Petty Officer 1st Class James Highfield Edney served for more than 20 years in the Navy before the First World War. He was born in Northumberland in 1865, the first of two son’s born to Henry and Harriet Edney. He was a chauffeur when he married Henrietta Robertson in 1910. They had four children; the…
Patrick Joseph Brennan
Patrick Joseph Brennan was born in Youghal, County Cork to Michael and Mary Brennan (née Flavin). His parents married in Youghal on the 27th of May 1894. Patrick’s service record says he was born 16th October 1895 but his birth certificate tells us he was actually born on the 19th October 1896. Young men often…
James John Benoit
Seaman James John Benoit of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve was one of 21 Newfoundland sailors who lost their lives when the Laurentic sank on January 25th 1917. They were all experienced sailors, having been trained on HMS Calypso years before the war began. James was born on the 1st of April 1893, in Stephenville,…
John Victor Davies
Ordinary Signalman John Victor Davies was born on the 10th of July 1891 in Elswick in the west end of Newcastle. He was the second youngest of Thomas and Harriet Davies’ six children. His father, a draughtsman engineer, was from Denbighshire, North Wales and his mother from Winsford, Cheshire. They married in Liverpool in 1883….
Joseph William Roberts
Joseph William Roberts, Mercantile Marine Reserve, was born on the 31st of December 1889 Liverpool, to Joseph and Annie Roberts (née Kelly) of 10 Sidney Road and 226 Bedford Road, Bootle. He was the first of their eight children. Both of his parents were born and raised in Liverpool. When the 1901 census was taken Joseph…
Samuel Jordain
Seaman Samuel Jordain, Royal Naval Reserve, was born on the 7th of November 1880 in Brixham, Devon the elder of two boys born to Samuel and Alice Jordain (née Snell). Both of his parents were born and grew up in Brixham and like his father and grandfather before him, Samuel was a fisherman. He had…
Thomas Jamieson
Engineer Lieutenant Thomas Jamieson, Royal Naval Reserve, was born in Bootle in 1884, the only son of John and Elizabeth Jamieson (nee Gibson). Both of his parents were Scottish and his father was also a marine engineer. At the time of serving in the Mercantile Marine Thomas lived at 32, Worcester Road, Bootle with his…
William James Cleverton Hoyle
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…
The Legacy of the Laurentic 