BORN HULL 01/12/1893. SON OF ROBERT DOUGLAS OADES (1873-1938) & FLORA ELIZABETH BERRY (1874-1959), OF HULL.
HE MARRIED GERTRUDE BROWN (1894-1965), AT HULL, IN 1915. HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTER, GERTRUDE, LIVED AT 52, SALTHOUSE LANE, HULL (CWGC ADDRESS)
HE WORKED AS A SHIPS COOK AND SERVED ON HMS “WARRIOR” AT JUTLAND AND THE TRAWLER, “JESSAMINE”. HE WAS LOST AT SEA, ON 12/03/1917, AGED 23.
HE IS COMMEMORATED ON THE CHATHAM NAVAL MEMORIAL, KENT. HIS WIDOW , GERTRUDE REMARRIED WILLIAM FREDERICK BERRY (SEE BELOW).
HIS NAME IS LISTED ON ST MARYS CHURCH, LOWGATE MEMORIAL, HULL. HIS DAUGHTER, “TRUDIE” BECAME WARDEN OF ST MARY’S CHURCH
Than You to Dave Berry for the following information sent on 2/9/2024.
HMS Jessamine was a Minesweeper. On 29th August 1917 the HMS Jessamine came across an abandoned ship the SS Cooray and an armed party was sent from the Jessamine as a ‘prize crew’ to board the SS Cooray at 1.55pm. The whole thing was a trap set by German Submarine U75 which had forced the crew of the Cooray to leave her abandoned then waited for the Royal Navy to come along. A few minutes after the prize crew boarded the Cooray the U75 torpedoed and sank the Cooray. Six of the boarding party died but three were saved by HMS Jessamine. George William Oades was one of the ‘prize crew’ who died at circa 2pm that day due to that torpedo.
George William Oades’ widow Gertrude nee Brown remarried my grandfather William Frederick Berry. He was the much younger brother of Flora Elizabeth Berry (George William Oades’ mother). So my grandfather was George William Oades’ uncle though only 2 years older than him.
When he married Gertrude Oades nee Brown he also took on the role of father to George William Oades’ only daughter Gertrude Oades born May 1915.
This daughter never married nor had any children. She was my father Laurence Berry’s eldest sister (half sister) and my Auntie Trudie.
When Trudie died she had in her possession lots of papers relating to George William Oakes’s death including letters from seamen of HMS Jessamine. She also had various artefacts including his Ditty box, war medal and engraved cigarette case.
Following my father’s death in April 2024 I now have all of these items. I would love to donate them to a museum – could you help advise me on this please?
My grandfather William Frederick Berry was George William Oades’ uncle though only two years older than him (G W Oades mother, Flora Elizabeth Berry, was my grandfather’s much older sister.
My grandfather and G W Oades grew up as close friends living next door to each other. My grandfather served as a reservist from 1910 and so immediately joined WW1 in 1914 as a Driver in the Royal Field Artillery, fighting at the first battle Mons. After being sent home in 1915 due to frost bite he recovered and on returning to France was sent to Salonica in 1916. When the war ended he was then sent to Bartoum to fight with the White Army against the Red Army as part of the Russian Revolution. He left the army in 1919 and married George William’s widow (Gertrude Oades nee Brown). He took on G W Oades’ and Gertrude’s daughter, also Gertrude born May 1917, as his own daughter, but she always continued to use her surname of Oades. I knew her simply as Auntie Trudie, much older sister to my dad Laurence Berry, born 1937.
When my dad died this year I found in his possession things he had collected from my Auntie Trudie’s house when she died in the 1990s. She never married and had no children but was warden of St Mary’s Lowgate for many years.
The things I thus have are items which had belonged to G W Oades namely:
His service record (he first served aboard the battleship HMS Warrior and was still aboard at the battle of Jutland when she was sunk
His ditty box (issued in 1916 when he joined HMS Warrior)
A silver cigarette case engraved with GWO
A silver cross (found inside the cigarette case)
A postcard saying ‘Welcome from HMS Warrior’
A typewritten letter from the admiralty dated 30 Aug 1917 (the day after he died) informing his widow (later my Grandma Gertie) of his death
Handwritten letters from the commander and crew members of HMS Jessamine sent in early September to his widow ‘Gertie’
His posthumous silver WW1 medal
The scroll and death medal sent to his widow together with accompanying typed (pre printed) letter
Photo of my grandma with my Auntie Trudie as a baby with handwritten message ‘Love from Gertie and baby’
Various photos of ships probably HMS Warrior and HMS Jessamine
I would love to donate these things to a Hull museum so that they are secured for future generations after I am gone. Any advice on this would be gratefully received.
