BORN HULL 1890. SON OF JOSEPH & HANNAH HILL, OF 113 , EDINBURGH STREET, HULL (CWGC ADDRESS). HIS FATHER WAS AN NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY (NER) ENGINE DRIVER AND HE ALSO WORKED WITH HIS BROTHER GEORGE AS A NER SHUNTER.
A ROYAL NAVY RESERVIST HE WAS RECALLED AT THE OUTBREAK OF WAR.
ON 26/11/1914, WHILE ANCHORED AT SHEERNESS, KENT, HMS BULWARK, WAS DESTROYED BY A LARGE INTERNAL EXPLOSION, WITH THE LOSS OF 736 MEN. THERE WERE ONLY 14 SURVIVORS AND TWO OF THESE LATER DIED OF INJURIES. THE EXPLOSION WAS LIKELY CAUSED BY THE OVERHEATING OF CORDITE CHARGES WHICH HAD BEEN PLACED ADJACENT TO THE BOILER ROOM.
ROWLAND’S DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL ON 30/11/1914 AND IN THE HULL TIMES, ON 05/12/1914, WITH HIS PHOTOGRAPH. *
HIS BROTHER, GEORGE WILLIAM HILL, NFUS, WAS KILLED IN ACTION AT YPRES ON 16/06/1917. ANOTHER BROTHER, POLLARD HILL, 1ST COLDSTREAM GUARDS WAS WOUNDED IN THE WAR.
BOTH BROTHER ARE COMMEMORATED ON THE WW1 MEMORIAL AT ST JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCH, NEWINGTON, HULL.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Bulwark_(1899)
