BORN HULL 09/03/1893. SON OF THE LATE WILLIAM RYAN (1844-1903) & LATE CAROLINE MARSHALL (1858-1907), OF 3, ARNETTS PLACE, NORTH STREET, HULL. SON OF A DOCK LABOURER. HE HAD FOUR SISTERS AND FOUR BROTHERS. HIS FATHER WAS BORN IN BRADFORD. HIS MOTHER WAS A NATIVE, OF STOKE ALBANY, LINCOLNSHIRE.
HE WAS A SAILOR BEFORE THE WAR, AND WAS A ROYAL NAVY VOLUNTEER RESERVE. HE ALSO WORKED AS A FIREMAN FOR THE HULL CORPORATION (TRAMWAY ELECTRICALS DEPTARTMENT).
HE LIVED WITH HIS SISTERS, JULIA WILKINSON, AT 15, WILFREDS TERRACE, NORNABELL STREET HULL, AND ELLEN (NELLIE) RODGERS, AT 7, ALBERTS TERRACE, TERRY STREET, HULL
HIS OCCUPATION WAS SEAMAN WHEN HE ENLISTED AT HULL ON 04/11/1914, AGED 19 YEARS A 7 MONTHS.
HIS ARMY RECORDS, DESCRIBE HIM AS 5 FOOT, 4.5 INCHES TALL, 138 LBS WEIGHT, 36 INCH CHEST, “DARK” COMPLEXION, BROWN HAIR, GREY EYES, WITH ANCHOR TATTOO, ON RIGHT ARM, VERY GOOD PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT, AND ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIGION.
HE JOINED THE 12TH EYR (HULL PALS), AS PRIVATE, 12/1096, ON 04/11/1914. HIS BROTHER IN LAW, JOSEPH WILLIAM RODGERS, (1881-23/4/1918) 12/1429, EYR, ENLISTED IN THE SAME REGIMENT.
HE TRAINED AT DALTON HOLME CAMP AND RECEIVED 20 DAYS PUNISHMENT FOR TALKING/LAUGHING IN THE RANKS, NOT COMPLYING WITH AN ORDER AND BEING INSOLENT TOWARDS A NON COMMISSIONED OFFICER. 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, OF 10, MYRTLE GROVE, NORNABELL STREET, HULL, REPORTED HIS DEATH. HER HUSBAND SERVED IN TRANSPORT SHIPS.
TWO BROTHERS, PTE, WILLIAM RYAN, 1ST EYR, DIED OF WOUNDS, ON 27/10/1914, AGED 28, AND L/CPL, JOSEPH RYAN, 201511, 1/4TH EYR, WAS KILLED IN ACTION, ON 13/04/1917, AGED 26. BOTH KILLED IN FRANCE. ANOTHER BROTHER GUNNER, 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 ELLEN (NELLIE), AT 7, ALBERTS TERRACE, TERRY STREET, HULL (CWGC ADDRESS).
HIS SISTER NELLIE RODGERS DIED ON 23 OCT 1918, AGED 37 AND HER HUSBAND, JOSEPH WILLIAM RODGERS, 12TH EYR, DIED ON 23 OCT 1918, AGED 37. THEY ARE BURIED AT HULL WESTERN CEMETERY.
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]
