BORN HULL 1864. MARRIED 1883. WIFE ELIZABETH. FATHER OF MRS BOOTH AT 48 GLENCOE STREET AND 176 , MARLBOROUGH AVENUE, HULL (CWGC ADDRESS). HE WENT TO SEA, AGED 12 AND GRADUATED TO SKIPPERING TRAWLERS FOR THE GREAT NORTHERN STEAM TRAWILING COMPANY. HE WAS WELL KNOWN IN THE HULL FISHING FRATERNITY. HE WAS A MEMBER OF THE WEST HULL LIBERAL CLUB AND WAS CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE R.A.O.B. HE HAD BEEN MINED IN APRIL 1917 AND SHORTLY BEFORE THIS, HAD RESCUED THE CREW OF A LOST OIL TANKER. HE DROWNED AT SEA, AGED 54, WHEN HIS SHIP WAS TORPEDOED, ON 08/06/1918. HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, ON 11/06/1918. * HE IS BURIED AT HULL WESTERN CEMETERY.
HE WAS A MASON AND HIS NAME WAS INSCRIBED ON THE R.A.O.B. LODGE ROLL OF HONOUR, ROYAL OAK HOTEL, PRINCES DOCK SIDE. (HDM 10/08/1918). TWO OF HIS SONS, PRIVATES, RICHARD AND WILFRED POWELL, BOTH EYR, WERE WOUNDED IN THE WAR.
Eros, built by Cook, Welton & Gemmell, Beverley in 1903 and owned at the time of her loss by Great Northern Steamship Fishing Co. Ltd., Hull, was a British trawler of 181 tons. In 1917 the EROS was requisitioned by the Royal Navy as a fishing trawler (Fishery Reserve).
On June 8th, 1918, Eros was sunk by a mine from the German submarine UC-40 (Hermann Menzel), 36 miles ENE of Spurn Point, Firth of Forth. 6 persons were lost. The mine was from ‘barrage 45’ and laid on June 8, 1918.
PEOPLE ON BOARD HMT ‘EROS’
1. AVERY, STEPHEN FREDERICK (32), Spare Hand, HMT Eros, Mercantile Marine, 08/06/1918, Son of Robert Avery and the late Florence Avery; husband of Bertha Louisa Avery (nee Linkins), of 8, Princes Avenue, West Dock St., Hull. Born at Ramsgate, Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial
2. BAGGLEY, JESSE (36), Third Hand, HMT Eros, Mercantile Marine, 08/06/1918, Son of the late Richard and Selina Baggley. Born at Hull, Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial
3. HANLON, WALTER (42), Second Engineer, HMT Eros, Mercantile Marine, 08/06/1918, Husband of Charlotte Hanlon, of 2, Welton Terrace, Wassand St., Hull, Memorial: Hull Western Cemetery
4. HOLNESS, JOHN MARSH (40), Boatswain, HMT Eros, Mercantile Marine, 08/06/1918, Son of Elizabeth Holness, of 9, Conway St., Hull, and the late Richard Albert Holness, Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial
5. POWELL, RICHARD WALTER (54), Skipper, HMT Eros, Royal Naval Reserve, 08/06/1918, Father of Mrs. O. M. Booth, of 176, Marlborough Avenue, Hull, Memorial: Hull Western Cemetery
6. WEBBER, HAROLD (40), Second Hand, HMT Eros, Mercantile Marine, 08/06/1918, Son of the late Abel and Alice Mary Webber; husband of Beatrice Ethel Webber (Nee Lewis), of 104, Eastbourne St., Hull. Born at Hull, Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial.
