BORN HULL 11/01/1894. SON OF JOSEPH LAROCHE (1853-1931) & ELLEN (NELLIE) LAROCHE (1856-1933) AT 8, EWBANK STREET, STOCKTON ON TEES, DURHAM, CLEVELAND (CWGC ADDRESS). ONE OF ELEVEN CHILDREN. HIS PARENTS WERE FROM LIVERPOOL. MOVED TO BOLTON AND THEN HULL. JOINED THE ROYAL NAVY RESERVES, ON 03/12/194. AS A STOKER. TRAINED ON HMS ‘VICTORY’.
LOST AT SEA, ON HMS ‘BLACK PRINCE’, AT THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND, 31/05/1916. AGED 22. HE IS COMMEMORATED ON THE CHATHAM NAVAL MEMORIAL, KENT, UK.
HMS BLACK PRINCE participated in the Battle of Jutland, but her end was a mystry for many years, as she had lost contact with the British fleet. The German account reads that HMS BLACK PRINCE briefly engaged the German battleship RHEINLAND at about 23:35 GMT, scoring two hits with 6-inch shells. HMS BLACK PRINCE then approached the German lines and she turned away from the German battleships, but it was too late. The German battleship THURINGEN fixed the BLACK PRINCE in her searchlights and opened fire. Up to five other German ships, including battleships NASSAU, OSTFRIESLAND and FRIEDRICH DER GROSSE joined. BLACK PRINCE was hit by at least twelve heavy shells and several smaller ones and sank within 15 minutes with no surivivors of her 857 complement. Read more at wrecksite: https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?10795
For more information, on HMS ‘Black Prince’ see this link https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?10795
