BLOCKLEY, John Alfred

Petty Officer 1st Class, HMS Viknor, Royal Navy
Service No: 132052
Died: 13/01/1915
Age: 45

Interred in Bangor Cemetery

On Wednesday, 27 January 1915, the Northern Whig reported the following

Found in Belfast Lough
In Bangor yesterday afternoon Dr. Samuel Wallace conducted an inquiry into the circumstances under which J. E. Blockley, said to be a first-class petty officer on board H.M.S. Vicknor, whose body was discovered on Monday, had met his death. When taken from the water the body was encircled by a lifebelt, and round the neck of the deceased was an inflated rubber collar. Where the deceased came from is as yet unknown, but his official number is given as 132052.
     Sergeant J. Johnston gave evidence of identification. The deceased was J. E. Blockley, said to be a first-class petty officer on H.M.S. Viknor, and appeared to be about forty-six years of age. Whether he was married or where he came from was not yet known. The body had been picked up off Black Head on Monday, and identified by a disc attached to it.
     Dr. J. F. Mitchell expressed the opinion that he body had been in the water for about a week, and death in his opinion was due to asphyxia caused by drowning.
     A verdict of "Found drowned in Belfast Lough" was returned.

John Alfred Blockley was born on 14th February 1870 in Hinckley, Leicestershire. He was the son of Zinor Blockley, a carpenter, and his wife Agnes, and the second of their six children.

John was working as an errand boy when on 14th February 1888, his 18th birthday, he enlisted in the Royal Navy.

He served on numerous vessels and shore establishments and in 1904 was serving on Excellent when he married Mary Margaret Foster in Portsmouth. They had two children: John Alfred born 1905 and George Edmund born 1910.

John completed his 12 years service in February 1910 and the following year was working as a "beer retailer" in the Lord Palmerston in Arundel Street, Portsmouth although he transferred his licence to another in July 1913.

In August 1914, John was recalled for service joining the crew of the Dolphin as Petty Officer. He then served at Victory 1 and on the Excellent before joining the Vicknor in December 1914.

The following on the loss of the Viknor is extracted from the Dawlish Chronicles

     ... One such loss with all hands was of the armed merchant cruiser HMS Viknor.  She had been built as long before as 1888 as a passenger liner, the Atrato, for use on routes between Britain and the West Indies. Capable of carrying 279 passengers, and 421 ft long and 5,347 tons, she was distinctly yacht-like in appearance due to her clipper bow and smartly raked masts and funnels. Sadly underpowered at 1000 hp, her single screw driving her at no more than 14 knots, she must nevertheless have looked a splendid sight on the blue waters of the Caribbean. In 1912 she was renamed as the Viking by new owners and was used for cruising, an activity for which speed was not an essential.
     Thoroughly obsolete in 1914, not to mention slow, it is therefore surprising that she should have been requisitioned by the British Admiralty service on the outbreak of war in 1914. Now named HMS Viknor, she was armed as a “merchant cruiser” and allocated to the Royal Navy’s 10th Cruiser Squadron which was tasked with patrolling between Iceland and Northern Scotland. Minimally armed, these merchant cruisers were not expected to meet enemy warships and their main purpose was to intercept neutral shipping for inspection to detect war contraband destined for Germany. Considering that during the winter months the ships on this station were likely to encounter some of the worst sea conditions in the world, it is surprising that an old underpowered vessel like the Viknor was ever chosen for such duty.
     During the first weeks of 1915 the Viknor was on patrol off the North West coast of Ireland. She appears to have been in radio contact but she was to disappear in heavy weather on January 13th, close to Tory Island, off the coast of Donegal, without sending a distress signal. She took with her the entire 291-man crew, as well as a German national who had been taken off a ship the neutral Norwegian vessel Bergensfjord, under suspicion of being a secret agent, as well as six other men who have been cryptically referred to as “stowaways”. Some wreckage and many corpses were subsequently washed up on the Irish and Scottish coasts.
     Though the exact cause of the Viknor’s loss cannot be established with certainty, it is possible that she struck a German mine. This could possibly have been one of the 200 laid in the same general area by the German auxiliary cruiser Berlin, one of which had sunk the British super-dreadnought HMS Audacious on October 27th 1914...
     The Viknor’s wreck was found by the Irish survey vessel Celtic Explorer in 2006 but the reason for her loss could still not be identified with absolute certainty.

The liner Atrato, later the Viking and lastly HMS Viknor

Killed in Action

BLOCKLEY – In loving memory of John Alfred Blockley, Warwick House, Kimbolton-road, Copnor, of H.M.S. Viknor, drowned off the Irish coast, January, 1915. – From his sorrowing wife and boys. R.I.P. Portsmouth Evening News, 29th January 1915.

SCOTT, William

William is recorded on the memorial in
First Presbyterian Church, Bangor

Able Seaman, HMS Majestic, Royal Navy
Service No: 216800
Died: 27/05/1915
Age: 31

Remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial
Remembered on family memorial in Bangor cemetery

William was born in Fisher's Hill, Bangor, on 18th November 1883. He was the son of William Scott, a boatman, and his wife Agnes Scott (nee Gray) and their second child the other being their daughter Jane Gray who had been born in Fisher's Hill on 12th March 1882.

Sadly, in 1884, when just eight months old, William lost his father to typhoid fever at the young age of 27.

In February 1891, William's mother remarried. His new step-father, William Smiley, was a blacksmith who was a widower with one daughter, Jane, who was born in August 1875.

The family continued to live in Bangor. Firstly in Ava Terrace where, on 6th December 1891, a sister Ruth was born and then in Ruthville, where three other siblings where born – Agnes May born 25th October 1893, Mary Elizabeth born 11th April 1896, and John Henry born 23rd April 1899.

The family then moved to Albert Street, Bangor, where, in the 1901 census, William is recorded as a clerk.

On 18th April 1902, William enlisted in Royal Navy (giving his date of birth as 18th April 1884) where he served on several ships such as Calliope, Royal Oak, and Magnificent.

HMS Majestic

Although he signed on for usual 12-year term in 1902, just over seven years later, on 9 May 1908, William's service document records 'Shore purchase' which usually means he purchased his release from service. It also records he joined the RFR (Royal Fleet Reserve) on 10 May 1908.

On 3rd March 1909, William, now working for the Milfort Weaving Company, married Annie Allen Johnston in St Annes Parish Church, Belfast.

Annie was living at 6 Castleton Avenue, Belfast, and it was here on 6th March 1909, there first child, Agnes May, was born.

William and his family moved subsequently to Parkmount Street, Belfast where they had three other children – Annie Eveline born 8th August 1910, Hilda Jean born 23rd February 1912, and Ruth Gray born 14 August 1913.

On the outbreak of war,  William was recalled for service and joined the  Majestic on 2nd August 1914.

It was on Majestic that William was lost when it was torpedoed on 27th May 1915.

The following is extracted from the Wikipedia page on Majestic:

Sinking of the Majestic

"When World War I broke out Majestic, together with the rest of the squadron, was attached to the Channel Fleet during the early stages of the war before being detached for escort duties with Canadian troop convoys. She then had spells as a guard ship at the Nore and the Humber. In early 1915, she was dispatched to the Mediterranean for service in the Dardanelles Campaign. She participated in bombardments of Turkish forts and supported the Allied landings at Gallipoli.

"On 27 May 1915, while stationed off W Beach at Cape Helles, Majestic became the third battleship to be torpedoed off the Gallipoli peninsula in two weeks. Around 0645 hours, Commander Otto Hersing of the German submarine U-21 fired a single torpedo through the defensive screen of destroyers and anti-torpedo nets, striking Majestic and causing a huge explosion. The ship began to list to port and in nine minutes had capsized in 54 feet (16 m) of water, killing 49 men. Her masts hit the mud of the sea bottom, and her upturned hull remained visible for many months until it was finally submerged when her foremast collapsed during a storm."

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SCOTT – Lost, with sinking of H.M.S. Majestic, on 27th May 1915, William Scott, aged 31 years (late of Milfort Weaving Company, Ltd). Inserted in fond remembrance by his mother, Mrs. Wm. Smiley, Ruthville, Bangor, and his wife, Kylene Terrace, Croft Street, Bangor.

North Down Herald and County Down Independent, 25 June 1915.

HILL, Ernest Ludgate

Private, 26th Battalion,  Australian Infantry
Service No: 5048
Died: 14/11/1916
Age: 18

Remembered on Villers-Bretonneux Memorial
Remembered on family memorial in Bangor Cemetery

Ernest is recorded on the
Greyabbey and District War Memorial
at Greyabbey (St Saviour’s) Parish Church

Ernest Ludgate Hill was born in Greyabbey, Co. Down, on 25th December 1897. He was the son of Marshall Hill, a teacher, and his wife Sarah Louisa Hill (nee Ludgate) and the second of their six children.

Ernest grew up in Greyabbey but emigrated to Australia around 1914-15 where he worked on a farm.

He enlisted on 2nd February 1916 in Lismore, New South Wales, lying about his age when doing so by adding three years.

Initially placed in the 11th Depot Battalion he was then posted to the 14th Depot Batt. on 26th March 1916. He then joined 13th Reinforcement, 26th Battalion, on 1st April 1916.

Ernest embarked on the "Franconia" for England on 2 August 1916 before landing in France on 24th September 1916. He left Etaples on 2 October 1916 to join his unit at the front the following day.

He was initially reported missing on 14th November 1916, but on 19th April 1917, a report received through the Red Cross recorded him as a prisoner of war in Limberg, Germany.

This later proved incorrect and on 15th October 1919 was officially reported as killed in action on 14th November.

Barry Niblock, on his website North Doan and Ards War Dead, records the following: "Sometime later his family received a few of Ernest’s personal effects from a German soldier who forwarded them after Ernest died. The German soldier whose forename was Ernst had come upon Ernest’s body on the battlefield and had recovered the items from the pockets of Ernest’s uniform."