BORN READING, BERKSHIRE, 1895. MOTHER JULIA BURFIELD LIVED READING. ABLE SEAMAN. LOST ON HMS ‘BULWARK’ ON 26/11/1914, AGED 19. THIS WAS HIS NAVAL RECORDS. HIS NAME WAS LISTED ON THE SYKES STREET MEMORIAL. HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, ON 09/10/1916.
HMS Bulwark, British, London class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship. Exploded whilst lying at anchor at Sheerness with only 12 survivors. During that day she had been taking on board ammunition and it was thought that the shells had been stacked too close together and too close to a boiler room which caused some of them to ignite and cause a magazine explosion. In terms of loss of life, the explosion on HMS Bulwark remains the second most catastrophic explosion in the history of the UK, killing 738 sailors. The most deadly explosion in British history was that of HMS Vanguard, caused by a stokehold fire detonating a magazine, at Scapa Flow in 1917.
