BORN HULL 06/01/1897. PARENTS JOHN THOMAS & ANNIE ELIZABETH CROPPER, OF, 1, NEWTON ENTRY, SALTHOUSE LANE, HULL.
HE ENLISTED IN THE ROYAL MARINE LIGHT INFANTRY. WAS ATTACHED TO HMS ‘NATAL, WHICH EXPLODED IN DOCK, KILLING 400 MEN. HE DIED ON 30/12/1915, AGED 19. HIS BODY WAS NEVER FOUND AND HE IS COMMEMORATED AT THE CHATHAM NAVAL MEMORIAL, KENT.
HIS NAME IS ALSO RECORDED ON THE WAR MEMORIAL INSIDE ST MARYS CHURCH, LOWGATE, HULL.
HE LEFT THREE SISTERS, EMMA, GERTRUDE AND EDITH, AND YOUNGER BROTHER, HARRY.
HMS Natal, British, Warrior class Armoured Cruiser, blew up and sank at her moorings in the Cromarty Firth, Scotland on 30th of December 1915. Over 400 lives lost. The cause was speculated about at the time and there were conspiracy theories; sabotage was feared by some but the official enquiry put it down to a cordite explosion. This material becomes unstable when overheated. Other ships had suffered a similar fate, and this is the most likely explanation.
