BORN HULL 09/03/1893. SON OF THE LATE WILLIAM RYAN (1844-1903) & LATE CAROLINE MARSHALL (1858-1907). HE WAS A SAILOR BEFORE THE WAR , AND WORKED AS A FIREMAN FOR THE HULL CORPORATION (TRAMWAY ELECTRICALS DEPT.)
HE JOINED THE 12TH HULL PALS, AS PRIVATE, 1096, ON 04/11/1914. HE THEN DESERTED THE ARMY, ON THE 25/04/1915, FOR THE ROYAL NAVY, ON 24/04/1915. HE SERVED ON HMS ‘CHAMPAGNE’. DIED AT SEA, ON 09/10/1917, AGED 22. HE STAYED WITH HIS GUN, FIRING AT THE SUBMARINE, AS HIS SHIP WENT DOWN.
HIS SISTER MRS WILKINSON, 10 MYRTLE GROVE, NORNABELL STREET, REPORTED HIS DEATH. HER HUSBAND SERVED IN TRANSPORT SHIPS.
TWO BROTHERS L/CPL, JOSEPH RYAN, EYR AND PTE, WILLIAM RYAN, EYR, WERE BOTH KILLED IN FRANCE. ANOTHER BROTHER GNR, JAMES RYAN, ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY, SERVED IN MESOPOTANIA.
JOHN RYAN IS LISTED ON THE ST CHARLES BORROMEO, CATHOLIC CHURCH WW1 MEMORIAL, JARRATT STREET, HULL.
HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL ON 15TH FEBRUARY 1918, WITH HIS PHOTOGRAPH. *.
THE BROTHERS HAD NO PARENTS AND LIVED WITH THEIR SISTERS, JULIE WILKINSON , AT 10 MRYTLE GROVE, AND 15, WILFRED’S TERRACE, NORNABELL STREET, AND LILY, AT 15, WILFRED’S TERRACE, NORNABELL STREET, HULL AND NELLIE, AT 7, ALBERTS TERRACE, TERRY STREET, HULL (CWGC ADDRESS)
Champagne HMS was a British Armed Merchant Cruiser of 5,360 tons built in 1895 by Harland & Wolff Ltd, Belfast as the Passenger/Cargo steamer OROPESA SS and owned by the Pacific Steam & Navigation Co., Liverpool. In November 1914, whilst under the command of Captain Percy G Brown , she was taken over by the Admiralty for service as an armed auxiliary cruiser. As part of the 10th Cruiser Squadron under Rear-Admiral Sir Dudley de Chair, she sunk a German submarine in March 1915 whilst patrolling between Scotland and Norway off the Skerryvore Lighthouse. In 1917 she was lent to the French navy and was renamed the HMS Champagne, but retained her British crew. On October 15th , 1917 she was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine whilst in the Irish Sea with the loss of 5 officers and 51 men. On the 9th October 1917 she was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine U-96 when 8 miles SW of the Calf of Man. 58 dead.
If you have any more information, regarding the surviving brother James Ryan, please contact their Great Neice -Sue Hodgson [mailto:sue@dodge9.karoo.co.uk]
